evidence: Afghanistan’s Taliban has publicly executed a man convicted of the murders of five people, the Supreme Court says of the second confirmed official execution since the group returned to power in 2021. [...] The execution underscored the intentions of Afghanistan’s rulers to continue hardline policies implemented since their takeover. [...] The first confirmed public execution under the Taliban since its return to power occurred in December in the western province of Farah before hundreds of spectators and more than a dozen senior Taliban officials. A man also convicted of murder was executed with an assault rifle by his victim’s father, a government spokesperson said.