Taliban mark five years in power as aid groups warn of crisis

The Taliban marked five years in power on Saturday, seeking to portray their government as in control even as aid and rights groups warned of escalating crises.

Outside the former U.S. embassy in Kabul, armoured Taliban vehicles took part in a parade, displaying flags and banners, and celebrating what the government described as "victory day" from Western domination.

Sirajuddin Haqqani, the Taliban's interior minister, said in a video address that their return to power was the result of "morale, courage" and "divine assistance."

But he also made a rare acknowledgement of "issues and problems that may still exist." 

International organisations and the U.N. say the Taliban have struggled to address the natural and humanitarian crises Afghanistan has faced over the past five years, in part because Afghan women are under severe restrictions.

The Taliban have also faced a string of assassinations of key regional officials in the country's northeast in recent weeks.

In late July, the Taliban's information director in Badakhshan province was killed in an attack later claimed by Islamic State. The mayor of the province's capital also died in an attack on Thursday, local media reported.

Taliban officials did not immediately confirm the reports.

DIPLOMATIC INROADS

When the Taliban returned to power in 2021 amid the withdrawal of the U.S. and its allies, they promised to govern more liberally than they had in the late 1990s and early 2000s — a period marked by public executions, the sheltering of Osama bin Laden and the destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas.

But those assurances quickly faltered, human rights groups say. The Taliban have imposed sweeping restrictions on women and girls since 2021, barring 2.5 million of them from secondary schools and universities, according to UNESCO, and limiting their freedom of movement.

Half of Afghan women now ‌leave their homes only once or twice a month, according to data released by U.N. Women on Wednesday.

The Taliban say they respect women's rights in accordance with Islamic sharia law.

Five years on, their government remains internationally unrecognised, with Russia the only country to have formally recognised it.

Relations between the Taliban and Pakistan — initially their most important partner — are tense, as Islamabad accuses Kabul of supporting Pakistani insurgents. 

Many former embassies in Kabul have remained empty since the Taliban's return to power, including the U.S. embassy that was the backdrop of Taliban celebrations on Saturday.

But the Taliban have made quiet diplomatic inroads, analysts say, as some countries weigh the limits of their influence in Afghanistan and the need to engage with the government.

The Taliban are increasingly pushing for arrangements with European nations that have been seeking ways to deport more Afghans. The government in Kabul is also using its geographical location at the crossroads of South and Central Asia and the Middle East to strike economic deals.

Zia Ahmad Takal, a deputy spokesman for the Taliban's foreign ministry, told Reuters that ceremonies marking the government's fifth anniversary were expected to be held in the capitals of Pakistan, China, Uzbekistan, Iran, Turkey and Malaysia.

"My hope for the future of Afghanistan is that we will move toward development, God willing," Najibullah Ghorzang, a 28-year-old shop owner who attended Saturday's ceremonies in Kabul, said.

"We defeated a great empire, and we will defeat them again," he said of the U.S. and its allies.

EXISTENTIAL WORRIES 

The International Rescue Committee warned on Friday that Afghanistan's humanitarian needs had reached a record level, driven by droughts, the fallout from deadly earthquakes and the deportation of Afghans from neighbouring Iran and Pakistan.

While foreign aid budgets have shrunk, the number of Afghans in need of humanitarian assistance has risen by 3.5 million people since 2021, it said.

"Sustainable peace and prosperity require more than just an absence of conflict," Georgette Gagnon, a senior U.N. representative on Afghanistan, said in a statement.

"Afghanistan's future depends on building a society in which the rights and potential of all Afghans are realised."

Fatima, 28, has struggled to survive with her child. After the Taliban's return to power, she fled to Iran, where she could continue working as a make-up artist even as the Taliban banned women from such work in Afghanistan. 

Last year, she was expelled from Iran and deported to Afghanistan.

"Every morning, I wake up wondering how I will cover my basic living expenses, and every night I close my eyes with worries about my child's future," she said.