Media reports sometimes refer to Haibatollah as “the Taliban’s reclusive Amir”. The label is out of date. Haibatollah is still careful but not at all reclusive. He invites a steady stream of Taliban officials, commanders, religious scholars and even businessmen to his office in central Kandahar to receive instructions from him and listen to his vision for a truly Islamic Afghan society.

In the last week of the fasting month of Ramazan, Zabiullah Mujahid, now operating from Kandahar instead of the capital Kabul, released the Taliban Amir’s Eid message, projecting an idealised picture of the Islamic state and society the Taliban want Afghans and people around the world to think they preside over. The picture of justice, piety, security and prosperity is more grounded in aspirations than reality. But in recent months we have witnessed real changes in the way Afghans are governed. The biggest simplest change is that most policy decisions are now made by the Amir in Kandahar rather than by his government in Kabul. This episode asks is Haibatollah transforming the Afghan state?

Podcast produced by Colm Heatley.