Question is, black hats or white hats?

In this picture I see Pashtun, Kajiks, a lone Hazara, a shaved face Paki (unusual, even looks kinda photoshopped, infact the desk reflection on #2 and #3 from the right is odd, but could just be distance?), an unknown white guy (Russian war baby, far right, he looks the right age.) And I think Apu over to the left checking his instagram feed is an odd one, that's not a Talib. The real Taliban were serious mountain and rural people. Very simple and traditional. The long hair to the left could pass for a young Talib fighter that's been living in caves for over a year (did they fly him in for this photo?) To us its a bunch of hajj, to Afghanis it would be remarkably inclusive. It says, "No ethnic division. United". Or it says "I'm a scumbag drug dealing warlord and this palace is mine now."

This isn't the Taliban, who were Pashtun with very few exceptions, and the trigger discipline indicates training, which could possibly still be warlords. And warlord groups usually either drew divisipns strictly by tribe, or had to be inclusive because their own people fucking hated them.

Too sloppy looking to be SF trained. CIA backed warlords is a good theory. The 2 Pashtun (1 may be Uzbek?) 20 somethings, back center, do look like what the US military would have trained. They have our posture and they are alert, eyes open and forward, and not distracted.

My 2 cents. This looks like they grabbed a group of randos for a photo op and gave them weapons and told them to keep their fingers off the trigger? Weird picture.

Also the Hazara in the center looks like maybe a local Kabul drug warlord and the 2 guys behind him are his best bodyguards, and the other rando slobs are just there for the opium, he wouldn't be well-liked by his own Hazara people if he were a warlord. Or a CIA pawnlord. Big red flag.

My theory is someone selected this local Kabul warlord and his merry band of rejects to play the theatrical role of "Taliban" for a narrative.