In 2008, militants launched a frontal assault on the facility, destroying its walls and freeing over 1,000 inmates. In the latest operation, prisoners were quietly ushered out for four-and-a-half hours via an underground tunnel that had been constructed over the course of several months.

Most shocking is that it took another three hours before any security guards noticed the vacant cells. Theories abound, including allegations of bribery coupled with a gross display of incompetence and lack of discipline.

One unnamed escapee claimed the guards “are always intoxicated, smoking heroin, smoking hashish, or sleeping.” Muhammad Hamidzai, a Parliament member from Kandahar said, “It sends a message that [the Taliban] can do whatever they want, even at the heart of the most secure and important jail.” Officials expect violence in the Kandahar region to increase following the escape.