Taliban Marks Fifth Anniversary of Return to Power in Kabul Ceremony

Kabul's Loya Jirga hall hosted a ceremony on Saturday marking the fifth anniversary of the Taliban's return to power in Afghanistan. Senior officials, including Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi and Deputy Prime Minister Abdul Salam Hanafi, addressed thousands of attendees, framing the takeover as a liberation from a two-decade foreign military presence.

Muttaqi asserted that Afghanistan is now standing on its own feet, citing a strengthening security force and a stabilizing economy. He also claimed that millions of refugees are returning and being resettled. In his remarks, he urged nations that have not yet established formal ties with the Taliban government to reconsider, suggesting that engagement would be in their interest.

Deputy Prime Minister Hanafi characterized the events of August 2021 as the culmination of a 20-year struggle by the Afghan nation to drive out Western occupiers and end imposed wars, leading to what he described as peace and stability across the country.

The anniversary comes five years after the Taliban seized power on August 15, 2021, as US and NATO troops withdrew. The event was marked by celebrations in Kabul and other provinces, with convoys of vehicles and flag-waving crowds. Security was notably tight, with checkpoints on roads leading to the ceremony venue.

However, the commemorations stand in stark contrast to warnings from international bodies. A senior UN official has highlighted a grave human rights crisis, particularly concerning the status of women and girls. Since taking power, the Taliban administration has barred girls from education beyond the sixth grade and prohibited women from attending universities. Women are also banned from public spaces like gyms and parks and cannot travel long distances without a male guardian.

UNESCO estimates that approximately 2.4 million girls are currently excluded from secondary education. The UN World Food Programme has reported that child malnutrition has reached critical levels in a third of Afghanistan's provinces. UN Women has described the restrictions on women and girls as the harshest in the world, warning that the lack of female teachers, doctors, and nurses threatens the country's social and economic foundations.

The Taliban government remains largely isolated internationally, with Russia being the only nation to have formally recognized it.