Parun, the capital of Nuristan, with somewhere between 100,000 and 300,000 residents, is the least populated of Afghanistan's 34 provinces. The township is 200km as the crow flies from Kabul, but due to the poor condition of the mountain roads, around 12 hours, non-stop, by car. Of the Taliban takeover last year, locals in Parun said when news came that the republic had collapsed in Kabul, most members of the armed forces walked from their posts and handed their weapons to Taliban fighters who moved into town from outlying mountain areas – more a regular transition of government than a violent armed takeover. Low ranking soldiers and police were sent on their way. The Governor, who was well-liked by locals, was removed from his post but remains living in Parun today, nine months on. Some higher ranking soldiers were, according to locals, arrested and some have not been seen since. After fighting between the Afghan National Security Forces and the Taliban ended across Afghanistan ended last year, domestic tourists began flocking to Nuristan, despite its remoteness. Over a couple of days this weekend, friends and I met more travellers from Kandahar—many of them vacationing Taliban fighters, all of them men—than we did Nuristanis. Also on the weekend, my two female travel companions were warned of a new Taliban decree essentially forbidding women (not including foreign non-Muslims) from revealing any part of their body but their eyes in public and discouraging being in public in general, unless conducting essential business. The move is another landmark in the Taliban's increasingly draconian treatment of women in Afghanistan, where high schools have been closed in all but a few provinces since the former insurgent group took power last August. 7.5.2022. Photo: @andrewquilty / @vu_photo. #Nuristan #Afghanistan @afghanistan_you_never_see