Kabul , Afghanistan ( CNN ) -- On his knees , Nawroz prays . He is a condemned man about to die in a brutal way . His crime : The killing of his lover 's husband . The judge : A local warlord in Kand , Afghanistan . The executioner : The victim 's father . A mobile phone video captured the grisly scene . Many have gathered to watch this act , sitting on dusty earth , in dappled shade . Nawroz , wrapped in a white shawl , gets up from his prayer mat . His alleged victim 's father is led by another man to Nawroz . `` Hold the gun right , '' the man tells the father . Bang . Nawroz falls to the ground . Two more shots ring out . The warlord ordered the man to pull the trigger twice , but he kept on , unable to deliver a swift fatal shot . `` Stop shooting , you donkey , '' the spectators say . `` He 's still alive , '' says one . But not for long . This is not a video taken before 2001 , in the days when the Taliban ruled and Kabul 's stadium was reserved not for soccer , but public executions . It 's from last month . After a decade of the U.S.-led war to defeat extremism in Afghanistan , feudal justice still exists . In remote Kand , outside the reach of NATO or the Afghan government , warlord Mullah Mustafa and his men rule by the gun . Mustafa helps keep the Taliban at bay , the people say , so the government lets him run his own fiefdom . It 's not the sort of compromise the United States imagined a decade ago , bringing a type of justice that 's swift and brutal . Human Rights Watch has said that in large parts of Afghanistan , no formal judicial system is in place and only tribal and other customary forms of justice are practiced . And a scathing report issued last year by the International Crisis Group described Afghanistan 's judicial system as being `` in a catastrophic state of disrepair . `` A growing majority of Afghans have been forced to accept the rough justice of Taliban and criminal power brokers in areas of the country that lie beyond government control . '' The report went on to say that the United States has not paid the same attention to justice reform as it has to other aspects of nation building . `` Its investment in judicial institutions is modest , as opposed to the billions invested in standing up the Afghan army and police , '' the report said . The U.S. Agency for International Development allocated only 1 % of its Afghanistan budget between 2002 and 2007 -- $ 64 million -- to supporting the establishment of rule of law , the report said . Human rights monitors have pressed President Hamid Karzai 's government to prioritize the establishment of a professional judiciary . But Nawroz 's execution is more evidence that Afghanistan has a long way to go . There have been other cases that have sparked outrage . In 2006 , Abdul Rahman was arrested and threatened with death for converting to Christianity . Last year , the Taliban ordered the first public executions by stoning since their fall from power -- a young couple who had eloped died in horrific fashion . Jalaludin , who witnessed Nawroz 's execution , said Mustafa gathered local mullahs to reach a verdict according to sharia , or Islamic law . `` The mullahs asked the father to forgive Nawroz and to take some of his family 's land and women in compensation , '' he said . `` But the father refused , so the mullahs ordered an execution . '' Nawroz tried to buy his release , but Mustafa refused , Jalaludin said . He 's not one to take bribes . After the killing , Nawroz first said he had been helped by his cousins , according to Abdul Gafor , one of Nawroz 's cousins . `` For that reason , we were interrogated and beaten a lot during the questioning , '' Gafor said . But later , when questioned by Mustafa , Nawroz changed his story and said he had killed alone , Gafor said . Another cousin , Sikander , wished for law and order . `` We 'd like strong government , '' he said . `` There 's no police or government presence here , and Mullah Mustafa has government contacts . '' Nawroz was a man whose jealousy allegedly led him to kill the man married to his lover . It 's a story that has played out countless times in countless places . But here , in Kand , there was no trial , no jury of peers . Nawroz 's punishment was strictly an eye for an eye , meted out in frightful fashion . CNN 's Nick Paton Walsh reported from Kabul , Afghanistan , and Moni Basu reported from Atlanta .
A warlord condemned Nawroz to death after he allegedly killed his lover 's husband . The victim 's father shot him multiple times . Comment: Without a strong court system , Afghans have had to accept tribal justice .