Taliban outpace Sindh as Kabul launches ‘Safe City project’, Karachi still waits

In a stark contrast that Kamran Khan called both “pleasant” and “frustrating,” the Afghan capital of Kabul has successfully rolled out a full-fledged Safe City surveillance system—while Pakistan’s largest city, Karachi, continues to languish in bureaucratic delays and unfulfilled promises.

In his vlog, Khan expressed surprise at the Taliban-led Afghan government’s rapid implementation of a massive security infrastructure in Kabul, a city of six million. The system now features 90,000 high-definition security cameras capable of zooming in for license plate recognition and facial monitoring, all coordinated through live control rooms.

Khan said the development left him “pleasantly shocked,” particularly as Kabul has managed this feat in just three and a half years under the Taliban. He juxtaposed it with what he described as a “devastating performance” by the Sindh government in Karachi.

Despite Karachi’s population exceeding 25 million, the city’s Safe City project has made negligible progress since its initial announcement in 2009.

Over the past 15 years, the project has seen numerous re-launches, cost escalations—from an original PKR 10 billion to PKR 35 billion—and even multiple ceremonial cake-cutting events. Still, the results remain meager.

The latest agreement, signed in March 2024 with the state-owned NRTC, aimed to install 12,000 cameras across 2,525 locations in five phases. But according to Khan, only 150 cameras at 34 locations have become functional so far—falling well short of the targets set for the first phase alone.

“It’s a shameful contrast,” Khan said, pointing out that while Afghanistan moved swiftly under international isolation and sanctions, Karachi’s project has barely budged under the same provincial government that’s ruled since 2008.

Adding urgency to the issue, Khan cited the 2025 Global Terrorism Index, which placed Pakistan as the second-most affected country globally—surpassing even Afghanistan. Karachi saw over 70,000 street crimes in 2024 alone, with 112 citizens killed and more than 400 injured in robberies.

More than 41,000 motorcycles were reported stolen, along with 266 cars taken at gunpoint. Over 19,000 mobile phones were snatched.

Khan said this crime wave, backed by CCTV footage in many cases, underscores the desperate need for an effective surveillance system.

“The people of Karachi are still waiting,” he said. “And after 18 years in power, the Sindh government has managed to give them just 150 cameras.”