The improvements made to the status of women and girls in Afghanistan over two decades have been swept away, the country’s economy has collapsed and getting enough food is a problem for every second resident.
A year of Taliban rule has turned back the clock in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan ended up in the hands of the Taliban again in August 2021 with a speed that surprised the foreign powers.
See photos and videos from the year that revolutionized the country once again.
The decision by the United States and its allies to withdraw troops from Afghanistan encouraged the Taliban to seize the opportunity. As early as the summer of 2021, more and more provinces of Afghanistan ended up in the hands of the Taliban.
In the first half of August, the Taliban was already approaching the capital, Kabul.
President Ashraf Ghani got to his feet and ran away from the ground. The Taliban were able to seize power in Kabul, facing little resistance, and declare Afghanistan under their control on 15 August.
For the following days and weeks, the world watched with bated breath the fates of Afghans trying to escape and people being evacuated by the decision of Western countries.
“The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has been declared.” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid on 19 August 2021 on Twitter
Residents were horrified by the memories of the brutal Taliban who ruled Afghanistan from 1996-2001.
The Taliban immediately started looking for people who had cooperated with Westerners and the ousted regime with lists of names.
Human rights organization Amnesty International reports that the Taliban killed especially supporters of the ousted regime and leaders of ethnic minorities.
Afraid of the Taliban’s conservative views, many women dug out the burqa that covers everything, some shop owners covered the pictures of women in the windows and barbers started to avoid styles according to “western fashion”.
The Taliban, who interpret the rules of Islam in an old-fashioned way, soon forbade at least some of the country’s barbers from cutting their customers’ beards.
“Nearly two-thirds of all Afghans are under 25.” UN Population Fund
Curbing the “Western and immoral way of life” through, for example, banning the use of Tiktok and the online game PUBG hit Afghan youth who are used to freedom. There are a lot of them, as almost two-thirds of all Afghans are under 25 years old.
Concerns about the deterioration of the status of girls and women turned out to be justified. However, due to the power struggle between moderates and old-timers within the Taliban, the line has changed. Locality-specific differences can also be large.
Last March, the Taliban first announced that middle schools would open again for girls, but almost immediately retracted their promise. Now girls’ schooling is reduced to six grades of primary school, unless there happen to be clandestine schools in the area.
Women studying in universities have had the opportunity to continue their studies, but only when male students are not present. Depending on the locality, the opportunity for girls to attend school has varied greatly.
Peaceful women’s protests have been organized since August 2021, but on Saturday, for example, the Taliban violently broke up such a demonstration in Kabul.
The Taliban has suppressed and shut down the media and imprisoned and abused journalists.
In May, the Taliban decreed that women must wear clothing that covers their entire body and face when moving around in public spaces. For the few remaining female television reporters, the Taliban decided to “allow” the eyes to be seen.
In the Taliban’s opinion, women’s movement outside the home is not desirable except for absolutely compelling reasons, so women are largely excluded from working life. Exceptions have been some tasks related to teaching and health care, says the human rights organization Human Rights Watch in its publication at the beginning of the year in the report.
According to Taliban regulations, women are only allowed to take longer trips if accompanied by a male supervisor.
Women cannot count on getting help from the authorities and organizations that help women have had to stop their activities or operate in hiding.
Afghanistan’s economy has collapsed after the end of international aid. According to the World Bank, before the Taliban returned to power, the amount of aid Afghanistan received was 45 percent of the country’s gross domestic product.
“Before the return of the Taliban, the amount of aid received by Afghanistan corresponded to 45 percent of GDP.” The World Bank
The rise in food prices in particular accelerated in the country already last fall. The effects of the war in Ukraine make the situation even worse.
Already in October-December, according to the World Bank, 70 percent of households did not have enough money even for basic needs and basic food.
The World Food Program WFP estimates that almost 23 million Afghans, i.e. more than half of the population, need food aid. 3.9 million children are already malnourished.
Health care in Afghanistan is now even worse than before, and people giving polio vaccinations, for example, have been murdered. The UN has demanded Taliban to find out the perpetrators and bring them to court.
The Union applied for asylum in the EU of the asylum agency EUAA including more than 18,000 Afghans last September alone.
of the UN refugee agency UNHCR according to Afghanistan’s neighboring countries, Iran and Pakistan, there are a total of approximately two million Afghans registered as refugees. In reality, the number of people who have fled Afghanistan in recent decades living in them is significantly higher.
See the history of Afghanistan in three minutes
More on the topic:
“Women’s everyday life is a slow execution of the soul” – a year ago, women were locked in their homes in Afghanistan, but they did not remain silent
Analysis: Killing of Al-Qaeda leader complicates talks to release frozen assets of Afghanistan’s central bank
Helmand province explains why the Taliban came back to power in Afghanistan a year ago – “The war destroyed our lives”
Women and girls have virtually no rights, people are sentenced to death without trial – a recent UN report paints a dark picture of the human rights situation in Afghanistan
More on the topic in Areena:
Is the Taliban as terrible as before, Aziza Hossaini
Rauli Virtanen’s Afghanistan
Afghanistan in the hands of the Taliban
Political radio: Afghanistan collapsed like a house of cards