On Patrol: 12 Days With a Taliban Police Unit in Kabul

Tasked with guarding a Shiite shrine, a police unit offers a telling snapshot of the Taliban’s rank-and-file fighters and the challenges Afghanistan’s rulers face in governing a diverse nation.

KABUL, Afghanistan — A young Taliban fighter with a pair of handcuffs dangling from his finger warily watched the stream of approaching cars as he stood in front of a set of steel barricades.

Friday prayers would begin soon at the Sakhi Shah-e Mardan shrine and mosque, a holy Shiite site in central Kabul that he was guarding.

There had been two bombings of Shiite mosques in Afghanistan by the Islamic State in recent months, killing dozens, and this 18-year-old Taliban fighter, Mohammad Khalid Omer, wasn’t taking any chances.