The Taliban Takeover: How life has changed for Afghan citizens

By Ahmad Hakimi

NEW YORK: The Taliban took the world by surprise when they captured Kabul on August 15 last year experiencing little or no resistance from former President Ashraf Ghani’s forces.

The Islamic fundamentalist group finally managed to return to power after the US overthrew their regime in a 2001 military invasion.

Experts say the downfall of Ghani’s government was inevitable once NATO forces started withdrawing from the war-ravaged country in May 2021 as a result of Washington’s deal with the Taliban in February 2020. But few expected the country to fall to the militants so quickly.

Apart from the geopolitical impact of the Taliban’s return to power, life for ordinary Afghans has changed drastically since last year — mostly for the worse.

Despite criticism against the US-backed governments in Afghanistan after the Taliban’s ouster in 2001, Afghanistan had made progress on several fronts in the last two decades.

Independent media had flourished under former presidents Hamid Karzai and Ashraf Ghani, human rights had seen a substantial improvement, an increased number of girls had started going to school and universities, and Afghanistan’s middle class had experienced relative prosperity during the same period.

Over the past twelve months, these achievements have been largely reversed.

The Taliban have not fulfilled most of their promises under the 2020 Doha agreement.

They have been reluctant to form an inclusive government in the country, while girls above grade 6 are not allowed to go to school.

Also, women are not permitted to work in most sectors, and they can visit public parks only on specific days.

Afghanistan’s economy is now in freefall, with the UN warning of a humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in the country.

Since seizing power, the Taliban have been pressing the international community to recognise them as Afghanistan’s legitimate rulers.

International recognition is crucial for the Taliban to avoid potential economic collapse.

Millions of Afghans are jobless and their bank accounts are frozen.

Many people are selling their possessions to buy food, with urban communities facing food insecurity on levels similar to rural areas for the first time.

In January, the United Nations made the “biggest-ever appeal” for humanitarian aid for a single country, saying it needed $4.4 billion (€3.9 billion) for Afghanistan to prevent the “world’s most rapidly growing humanitarian crisis” from deteriorating further.

According to the UN, Afghanistan is the only country in the world where girls are not allowed to attend high school. A large number of women working in different positions in previous administrations — from the ministerial level to office clerks — were sent home by the Taliban in the first months of their rule.

Many Afghan women took to the streets to protest the Taliban’s oppressive decisions.

The hardline group used force to crush the protests, arresting many women’s rights activists.

Several women protesters have left the country, but at least five women’s rights groups are still active there. Zholia Parsi, a women’s rights advocate, told DW that she chose to continue her protest to safeguard her children’s future.

“One of my daughters should have been studying at university, while another should have been in grade 11. When I look at their psychological state, I have no choice but to protest. Until I get back our rights, I will not be silenced,” she said.