A logjam of trucks inches across a rut in the mountains splitting Pakistan and Afghanistan, teeming with a cargo of fruit and coal -- and paying the Taliban authorities for the privilege of passage. In downtown Kabul, a patrol of accountants inspects a bazaar, billing shopkeepers for trading honey, hair conditioner and gas hobs under the snapping white flag of the country's new rulers. Afghanistan is frozen deep in a second winter of humanitarian turmoil since the Taliban seized power in 2021, but cash is changing hands at a dizzying pace. The Taliban administration is, apparently, adept at collecting tax -- and seemingly without the corruption associated with the previous administration. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES