Taliban fighters commemorate the deadliest day for American forces in the Afghanistan War, when 30 Americans were killed, including 15 members of the Navy’s elite SEAL Team Six. (Photo: Adam Desiderio/VICE News)
Taliban fighters on motorbikes lead the VICE News crew inside villages controlled by the group in Wardak Province. (Photo: Adam Desiderio/VICE News)
Taliban country
A Taliban fighter listens for updates from the battlefield on his radio. (Photo: Adam Desiderio/VICE News)
Taliban fighters pray inside a Shari’a court in Wardak Province before listening to pre-trial hearings of a man accused of stealing sheep from a local herder. (Photo: Adam Desiderio/VICE News)
A Taliban fighter poses for a photograph inside the Shari’a court in Wardak Province. (Photo: Adam Desiderio/VICE News)
Mojibulrahman, a Taliban fighter and bomb maker, plants an improvised explosive device or IED after attaching it to an electrical charge. (Photo: Adam Desiderio/VICE News)
Commander Hamas, who leads a unit of about 20 fighters in Wardak Province, sits down for an interview on a mountain top overlooking the Tangi Valley. (Photo: Adam Desiderio/VICE News)
A Taliban fighter carrying a rocket propelled grenade greets other fighters who have gathered from areas Wardak Province. (Photo: Adam Desiderio/VICE News)
Taliban fighters hold hands while walking through the Band-e-chak district of Wardak Province, Afghanistan. (Photo: Adam Desiderio/VICE News)
VICE News crew arrives inside a Taliban-controlled village in the Tangi Valley. (Photo: Adam Desiderio/VICE News)
Taliban fighters on motorbikes lead the VICE News crew on a tour of the village bazaar (Photo: Adam Desiderio/VICE News)
Life under the Taliban
A Taliban fighter in the Band-e-chak district of Wardak Province stands guard with a Kalashnikov rifle. (Photo: Adam Desiderio/VICE News)
Commander Khadem, a representative of the Taliban’s Civil Casualties Prevention and Complaints Commission, sits down for an interview inside his hideout deep within Wardak Province. (Photo: Adam Desiderio/VICE News)
Residents of Mali Khel village stand on top of the rubble of a bombed out mosque. (Photo: Adam Desiderio/VICE News)
Children of Mali Khel village collect torn pieces of the Quran and other religious texts that were damaged in an attack on a local mosque. (Photo: Adam Desiderio/VICE News)
Commander Khatab (center) stands for an interview alongside other Taliban fighters in Wardak Province. (Photo: Adam Desiderio/VICE News)
Shariah law
Children living inside Taliban-controlled territory, not accustomed to seeing foreigners, gather to watch a VICE News crew in Wardak Province, Afghanistan. (Photo: Adam Desiderio/VICE News)
Taliban fighters stand guard in the Tangi Valley, Afghanistan. (Photo: Adam Desiderio/VICE News)
Women dressed in traditional Afghan burqas, religious coverings required by the Taliban, walk through a village controlled by the group in Wardak Province. (Photo: Adam Desiderio/VICE News)
Safiullah, 28, a resident of Mali Khel village in Wardak Province, holds a piece of shrapnel from a U.S.-made GBU-12 laser-guided bomb that allegedly destroyed a local mosque. (Photo: Adam Desiderio/VICE News)
A Taliban fighter poses with a rocket propelled grenade. (Photo: Adam Desiderio/VICE News)