“When the Taliban wrestled back control of Afghanistan in August 2021, they reinstated an autocratic system of governance that is reminiscent of their first period of rule, in the mid-1990s. In a move that put an end to troubled peace negotiations, they initially seemed bent on bringing back the Islamic Emirate that broadly defined their rule from 1996 to 2001. This resurgence has highlighted a gap in scholarly research regarding the Taliban’s possible intended legal frameworks. Over the past two years, numerous studies have attempted to make sense of the Taliban’s constitutional and legal imagination and to draw conclusions about what that may mean for Afghanistan. Previous studies are heavily informed by the Taliban’s 2005 Constitution—the first document made public allegedly by the group. This project, which should be viewed as a guide to the Taliban’s favored legal order, presents translations of a wide variety of Taliban-era laws that provide the context for and insight into the Taliban’s latest ascent to power. So far, it appears that their recent efforts strongly resemble the methods they used in the 1990s. It seems that religious symbolism is of high importance to the group, in that the state must not only do moral policing and guide Muslims to the “right path” but also appear obviously “Islamic” in all symbols, including flag, official titles, dressing of the officials, speeches, calendar, and holidays. One translated decree shows that the word ‘emirate’ replaced the word ‘state’, as the former creates an impression of greater religiosity—a political organization headed by Amir al-Mominin, commander of the faithful.” -Bashir Mobasher