Ghazi Stadium in Kabul was built in 1923 as a soccer arena.
By the 1960s, Duke Ellington played to a packed crowd there.
By 1996, the Taliban had turned it into one of the most feared execution grounds on Earth.
This is the dark history of the Taliban's public punishment system, from the stonings, firing squads, and amputations carried out before silent crowds of 25,000 people to the so-called "moral police" who could deliver punishment on the spot for crimes as small as a man's hair looking too Western.
We trace how the Taliban built a justice system where confessions outweighed evidence, where a prisoner could go from home to execution in a single day, and where attendance at public killings was treated as a religious duty.
We also examine the chilling resurgence of these punishments since the Taliban returned to power in 2021, the stadiums being used again, the floggings being filmed, and the women of Afghanistan once again living under the constant threat of accusation.
⏱️ Chapters
00:00 Ghazi Stadium
00:00 The Taliban Justice System
00:00 Public vs. Private Punishment
00:00 The Crowd
00:00 The Women of Afghanistan
00:00 The World Watched
00:00 2001 to 2026
