KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — On Saturday, Taliban leaders and officials convened in the traditional assembly hall of Afghanistan’s Loya Jirga to mark the fifth anniversary of their return to power. They claimed to have brought stability and ended conflict after decades of turmoil. However, a senior United Nations official cautioned about a severe human rights crisis in the country, where girls over 12 are being denied education.
The Taliban seized power on August 15, 2021, as U.S. and NATO troops withdrew following a costly two-decade war. This withdrawal led to chaotic scenes at Kabul’s airport as crowds desperately tried to flee the country.
Soon after taking control, the Taliban government imposed a ban on education beyond sixth grade for girls and later barred women from higher education, despite previous promises of allowing women access to education, employment, and public participation. Women have also been banned from public spaces like gyms and parks and are restricted from sports and traveling without a male guardian.
Celebrating the “Liberation” from U.S. Forces
At the Loya Jirga, top officials were joined by foreign representatives and thousands of ordinary citizens to listen to speeches commemorating Afghanistan’s “liberation” from U.S. forces.
“We pray to Almighty God to protect our homeland forever from occupation, aggression, wars, and insecurity,” said Hamdula Fitrat, the deputy spokesman of the Taliban government during the ceremony. “May our people enjoy peace, tranquility, and prosperity under the government based on Sharia.”
Abdul Salam Hanafi, the deputy prime minister for administrative affairs, claimed the Taliban government had ended an era of external interventions and internal conflicts in Afghanistan, restoring security.
“At least 300 young Afghans were martyred or killed every day,” Hanafi stated. “Three hundred sisters became widows, several children became orphans, and 300 mothers mourned. Praise be to God, with the government of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, this tragedy has been eliminated from the Afghan nation.”
No women attended the ceremony.
Taliban Official Calls for International Engagement
Five years on, the Taliban government remains internationally isolated, with Russia as the only country to formally recognize it.
The Foreign Minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, stated that countries engaging with the government have benefited from it and encouraged others to reconsider establishing contacts.
“They should move towards a policy of mutual interaction and engagement,” he said.
Celebrations Under Tight Security
In Kabul, some men gathered in squares with Taliban flags, chanting in support of the government. Convoys of vehicles moved through the city, causing traffic jams. Security was strict, with a heavy presence of Taliban security forces and several checkpoints on a main road leading to the Loya Jirga.
Celebrations also took place across Afghanistan’s provinces, where Taliban flags and banners praising the return to power were displayed along major roads and markets.
UN Warns of Worsening Human Rights Crisis
In a video message, Richard Bennett, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan, stated that the country is facing a deep human rights crisis.
“Although the war era has ended, whether there is real peace is questionable, and human rights conditions have steadily deteriorated, particularly for women and girls,” Bennett said. “My mandate concluded that this system amounts to the crime against humanity of gender-based persecution.”
“The crisis extends beyond gender discrimination, even beyond gender apartheid,” he continued. “Throughout Afghanistan, we continue to document arbitrary detentions, torture, extrajudicial executions, corporal punishment, forced disappearances, restrictions on freedom of expression, attacks on journalists and human rights defenders, persecution of ethnic and religious minorities, discrimination against LGBT+ individuals, and the shrinkage of civic space.”
Bennett cautioned the international community against “normalizing” Taliban policies, warning it would legitimize discrimination and convey to victims that their suffering is negotiable.
In an interview with The Associated Press this week, Molvi Hayatula Mahajar Farahi, the Taliban government’s Deputy Minister for Broadcasting in the Ministry of Information and Culture, stated that despite “challenges and difficulties,” the government has provided security and infrastructure and created jobs over the past five years.
2.4 Million Girls Excluded from Secondary Education
When asked, Farahi did not address the issue of girls’ and women’s education but claimed that “the level of investment in universities surpasses anything seen in the past.”
UNESCO estimates that approximately 2.4 million girls are excluded from secondary education. The UN’s World Food Program stated that child malnutrition has reached critical levels in a third of Afghanistan’s provinces, expected to worsen due to insufficient funding.
UN Women recently stated that Afghan women and girls face the world’s harshest restrictions, with the bans damaging Afghanistan’s future as the shortage of teachers, doctors, nurses, and midwives threatens the country’s social and economic foundations.
Fraser reported from Ankara, Turkey.
This story was translated from English by an AP editor with the assistance of a generative AI tool.
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