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Taliban justice earns locals' respect in southern Afghanistan
In the summer of 2008, two women were executed by the Taliban after it was alleged they ran a prostitution ring catering to foreign soldiers and contractors in this southern Afghan province.
A photograph of their bodies, slumped on the ground and bleeding into the dust, was the most graphic example of a system of justice that was meant to have disappeared with the US-led invasion.
Today the rebels' shadow government is even stronger, resolving legal disputes and meting out swift, occasionally brutal punishments across much of this province. It is, for many Afghans here, an ordinary part of everyday life.
"People like the Sharia law that exists with the Taliban. If you come to our area you will see a lot of love for Islam and the Taliban," said Mohammed Hanif, a resident of Andar district.