// BBC WORLD NEWS — MONDO
Divorce, smartphones and control - BBC sees how Taliban run Afghanistan
The governor of Jawzjan province, Abdullah Sarhadi, who fought for the Taliban was held in US detention in Guantanamo Bay for several years
Governor Abdullah Sarhadi gives money to treat a boy's broken arm and hands out funds for a local mosque - then, in his office in northern Afghanistan, an astonishing exchange unfolds.
A young woman tells the grey-bearded former Taliban commander that she wants to divorce her husband, who she accuses of months of abuse and beatings.
In a country where girls are banned from secondary education, the 18-year-old argues her case calmly and confidently, her face completely hidden behind a full-face veil and sunglasses.
"If there was any chance to live together, I wouldn't be here… I have taken my decision," she says.
After trying to persuade her to avoid divorce, the governor later comments that women are "mindless" and "deficient in intellect", to laughter from the male officials, bodyguards and elders around him.
The moment gives a rare glimpse into the day-to-day realities of the Taliban's rule, five years after they swept aside the US-backed government in 2021.
Watch: Eighteen-year-old woman argues her case for a divorce, saying her "honour and dignity have already been ruined"
In that time, women have been excluded from most workplaces, banned from universities and may not travel alone or visit parks and leisure centres.
In encounters spread over two years, the BBC gained unusual access to influential figures in the extreme Islamist movement, spending time with men who once planned suicide attacks or spent years in underground hideouts, but are now officials and soldiers.