For decades, the Taliban has been fighting an insurgent campaign to take control of Afghanistan, and now thanks to the feckless decisions of the Biden administration and the Afghan government, they’ve been able to roll into the capitol of Kabul with little opposition. And now that the Taliban is taking over, they want to assure that no armed opposition will rise up in response to the establishment of a terror-state.

Taliban fighters in the Afghan capital, Kabul, started collecting weapons from civilians on Monday because people no longer need them for personal protection, a Taliban official said.

“We understand people kept weapons for personal safety. They can now feel safe. We are not here to harm innocent civilians,” the official told Reuters.

If you believe that I have an air base in Bagram I’d like to sell you. As the Taliban has marched across Afghanistan in the past few weeks, there’s been plenty of harm done to innocent civilians.

Taliban forces in Afghanistan are targeting known critics for attack despite claiming that they have ordered their fighters to act with restraint, Human Rights Watch said today. In Kandahar, the Taliban have been detaining and executing suspected members of the provincial government and security forces, and in some cases their relatives.

Among recent cases, the Taliban executed a popular Kandahari comedian, Nazar Mohammad, known as Khasha Zwan, who posted routines that included songs and jokes on TikTok. He had reportedly also worked with the local police. On July 22, 2021, Taliban fighters abducted Khasha Zwan from his home in southern Kandahar, beat him, and then shot him multiple times. After a video of two men slapping and abusing Khasha Zwan appeared on social media, the Taliban admitted that two of their fighters had killed him.

“Taliban forces apparently executed Khasha Zwan because he poked fun at Taliban leaders,” said Patricia Gossman, associate Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “His murder and other recent abuses demonstrate the willingness of Taliban commanders to violently crush even the tamest criticism or objection.”

And it’s so much easier to violently crush the opposition once you’ve disarmed them. It’s also easier to abduct women off the streets when they’re not carrying a gun to protect themselves.

“There were no women walking on the streets, but there were women in the cars who were wearing masks and with no hair out,” said Hayat, a 24-year-old who went out to see what his city looked like under Taliban rule.

“The only positive change was that there is no traffic. But I did not feel safe and in the back of my mind, I kept thinking that they are going to shoot me now.”

Although the Taliban leadership has not laid out their new rules for Kabul residents, fighters used the loudspeakers at one mosque in the west of the city to announce that women should wear burqas or full hijab – a long abaya and a face covering – and their fighters have begun enforcement of a harsh code in other parts of the city.

One older woman who went out to get food for her family saw gunmen pushing women and sending them home for not being covered. She also saw them dragging younger women away. Most women had simply stayed home.

That might save them today, but what happens when the Taliban shows up at their doorstep tonight, tomorrow, or next week? And by the way, do you think any of the Democrats who are impotently demanding that the Taliban respect the human rights of the people now under its control will say a single word about the confiscation of private arms? Not a chance. They’ll bemoan the vicious reprisals and terror inflicted by the Taliban, but they’ll offer silent approval of the implementation of the Taliban’s “common sense gun safety regulations.”

It’s true, as Joe Biden said in his largely disingenuous and blame-shifting address to the nation on Monday afternoon, that the purpose of our 20-year fight in Afghanistan wasn’t to build up a Western-style democracy. But as I watch the dim light of freedom flicker out across that nation and the dark night of tyranny take its place, I’m more committed than ever before to defend our own liberties at home; from our First Amendment right to criticize our government leaders, to worship (or not) as we choose, and to protect ourselves and our nation by exercising our Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. Freedom is a tenuous thing. If you have any doubt, just look at the newly-disarmed “citizens” of Kabul now under Taliban rule.