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KABUL, Afghanistan — As the two women hunkered down in the dark, enveloped in blue burqas, they thought the gun-toting Taliban might free them despite accusations they had run a prostitution ring for a U.S. base.

"I hope they release us tonight so we can go home," one said.

"There must be some reason why they have brought us here," the other responded.

Soon after, the militants shot them dead.

The recent execution of the two women, witnessed in central Ghazni province by an Afghan journalist who contributes to The Associated Press, reflects the Taliban's resurgent presence in Afghanistan and their growing ability to dispense an extreme version of Islamic justice.

The Taliban are still not as powerful as when they ruled Afghanistan before the U.S.-led invasion in 2001 and regularly staged executions to stadium crowds. But as the insurgency in Afghanistan turns more violent, the Taliban have once again gained control of significant parts of the country where the weak U.S.-backed central government has little authority.

One sign of this comeback is the spread of a shadow justice system, with anecdotal reports of the militants' setting up "courts" and meting out harsh punishments.

Sometimes villagers go to the Taliban because their courts move faster and appear less corrupt, experts said. But at other times, in Taliban strongholds, people are afraid to turn anywhere else.

Over the past two years, there have been more reports of local Muslim clerics referring people to the Taliban in part because of their commitment to Shariah, or Islamic law, said John Dempsey, head of the U.S. Institute of Peace office in Afghanistan.

"The Taliban are trying to reassert control not only in terms of fighting and taking control of a town militarily, but also trying to put into place other structures of government that will build legitimacy," Dempsey said.

Many reports about Taliban justice come from the southern provinces, where the insurgency is strongest. There are signs, however, that the militants are spreading their tentacles further, and even outside Afghanistan. Taliban-style punishments have become commonplace in the border regions of neighboring Pakistan, where Islamic extremists now hold considerable sway.

In June, militants executed two people they accused of spying for the U.S. in front of thousands of cheering supporters in Bajur, a Pakistani tribal region. Islamist gunmen regularly shame alleged thieves in the tribal areas by blackening their faces, shaving their heads and parading them through the streets after a summary trial before a self-styled religious court.

The first thing the Taliban do when they come into an area is to set up courts, said Ahmed Rashid, a journalist and author who has written extensively on the militants.

"They insist on the local people going there rather than to the police or the official courts," Rashid said. "That's how they get a grip on the people."

In Ghazni province, where the two women were executed, the Taliban set up a pair of courts in Gelan district several months ago, according to Mohebullah Khan, a local farmer. Each court has two judges — clerics — and people go to them knowing the cases will be resolved in days and that they won't have to pay bribes, Khan said. He added that fear of the Taliban has stemmed crime.

"There have been no choppings of hands because there are no thieves," he said.

Mohammad Jawad, a shopkeeper in Logar, a province just south of the capital of Kabul, said the Taliban also have roving judges in some areas.

"One of my friends is a judge and the Taliban sent him letters telling him to stop working. The second letter said, we'll kill you if you work," Jawad said. "Also they issued a fatwa (religious edict) that anyone who works with the government will be killed."

Taliban fighters alleged that the two women executed on July 12 in Ghazni ran a prostitution ring catering to U.S. soldiers and foreign contractors at a U.S. base in Ghazni city. A U.S. military spokesman said he'd never previously heard of such allegations.