Taliban authorities marked five years in power in Afghanistan on Saturday with flag displays and sports events in Kabul. Women and girls were barred from a cricket match staged for the anniversary.
DR reports, citing the news agency AFP, that Afghanistan’s Taliban government marked August 15 with flags and several events. White flags bearing the Islamic declaration of faith were hung across the capital, Kabul, during the week.
Among the events organized by the authorities was a cricket match that women and girls were not allowed to attend, according to DR. Taliban members gathered near the former U.S. embassy in Kabul during the celebrations.
The Taliban took control of the country on August 15, 2021, after a rapid offensive met no resistance. The then Western-backed president, Ashraf Ghani, fled, following the withdrawal of U.S.-led forces after more than 20 years in Afghanistan.
Since then, girls and women have been excluded from higher schooling and universities, DR reports. A 23-year-old woman, who spoke anonymously to AFP for security reasons, said she feels suffocated under Taliban rule. She described the five years as so draining that she feels like a 500-year-old woman who cannot die.
Other residents described the period differently. Pirooz Mirzaie, a 20-year-old university student, told AFP that the government has created security and opportunities for entrepreneurs. He said the biggest challenge for young people is the shortage of jobs in a country of around 45 million people.
UN points to more than 100 decrees
Susan Ferguson, the United Nations special representative for women in Afghanistan, told Reuters that the Taliban government has issued more than 100 decrees restricting women’s rights. She added that several organizations working on women’s rights are threatened with closure because of a lack of funding.
Ferguson called on governments and international donors to keep investing in Afghan women and girls and to increase, not cut, foreign aid, according to Reuters. Reuters also reported that the UN estimates 2.4 million Afghan girls have been barred from secondary education since 2021.
In its own coverage of the anniversary, Reuters spoke with Kabul residents who said they felt safer but wanted jobs and wider access to schools. Reuters noted that girls over the age of 12 are banned from education.
Human Rights Watch published a five-year assessment on August 3, saying the Taliban have systematically dismantled the rights of women and girls. CNN tied its coverage to the fifth anniversary of the U.S. withdrawal and the country’s humanitarian situation.
Both DR and Reuters link the timing of the events directly to the anniversary of the August 2021 takeover. Reuters notes that the date falls while international scrutiny of the Taliban’s restrictions on women remains intense.
