KABUL — Five years after Taliban fighters entered the Afghan capital unopposed, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan marked the anniversary Saturday with flag ceremonies, a cricket match and public gatherings, as the government declared the day a celebration of national freedom and security.
White flags of the Islamic Emirate went up across Kabul this week, accompanied by new murals reading "Independence is a sign of dignity, pride and identity." Young Afghans gathered at events where songs celebrating independence played, while posters described the departure of foreign forces as the removal of the "carpet of democracy" for Islamic rule.
The Taliban swept into Kabul on Aug. 15, 2021, following a rapid offensive that overran Afghan government forces in the weeks after U.S.-led troops completed a chaotic withdrawal from the country. Some of the military vehicles left behind by foreign forces were put on display this week in the capital, among them a Humvee covered in dusty footprints and decorated with fairy lights.
Sports events formed part of the official program, though women and girls are barred from attending. The ban on female attendance at public events is one strand of restrictions that have expanded steadily since the takeover. Girls are prohibited from attending school beyond age 12, women are banned from most employment and are barred from public spaces including parks.
Fiona Frazer, the human rights director for the United Nations mission in Afghanistan, told AFP that Afghans have lived through the "consolidation of suffocating restrictions that intrude on almost every aspect of their daily lives, and their human rights." The UN has said people in Afghanistan are suffering "very real harm."
A 23-year-old woman in Kabul, who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity for security reasons, described five years of Taliban rule in stark terms. "The five years have been so gruelling that I feel like a 500-year-old woman, one who cannot die," she said, calling her experience a "profound sense of suffocation."
The economic picture has deteriorated since the takeover. GDP per capita is falling, driven in part by the arrival of more than six million Afghans who returned from Iran and Pakistan over a three-year period, straining jobs and services. The World Bank estimated real economic growth at 4.8 percent, but that figure has not translated into broader prosperity. Government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said this month that the authorities are laying the "foundations of the economy" and called for patience.
Pirooz Mirzaie, a 20-year-old university student speaking near vendors selling Taliban flags in Kabul, said the government had brought security, infrastructure work and opportunities for entrepreneurs. "The biggest challenge for young people is that there aren't many jobs," he said.
Diplomatically, the Taliban government remains almost entirely isolated. Despite forging working ties with governments across Europe and the wider region, the Islamic Emirate has received formal recognition from only one country: Russia. Relations with neighboring Pakistan have collapsed sharply. The two countries went to war this year, a conflict that deepened an already severe humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan at a time when international aid had already been cut significantly.
Some governments have opted to keep relations with the Taliban conditional on changes inside Afghanistan. That position has not moved the authorities to alter their policies on women's rights or civil liberties.
The anniversary arrives at a point when the Taliban faces pressure from multiple directions simultaneously: an economy weakened by the return of millions of migrants, a diplomatic quarantine from most of the international community, an active armed conflict with Pakistan, and reduced humanitarian assistance from Western donors. The UN's Frazer placed the human cost of that combination squarely on ordinary Afghans rather than on the government.
Inside Kabul, the official tone on Saturday remained one of confidence. The display of captured foreign military equipment, the flags and the public gatherings were designed to project permanence. Five years in, the Islamic Emirate shows no sign of reversing the policies that have left it without a seat at the United Nations or a single additional government willing to grant it formal recognition.
