In the 12 months since the chaotic withdrawal of the United States, some Afghans have welcomed improved security but have struggled with poverty, drought, malnutrition and women’s fading hope that they will have a decisive role in the country’s future. Some men fired shots into the air in Kabul and a few hundred people, including supporters, militants and officials gathered in the square in front of the US Embassy to mark the day. They held banners with the slogan “Death to the United States.” Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register “This day is the day of victory of truth over falsehood and the day of salvation and freedom of the Afghan nation,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement. At a ceremony attended by Taliban government ministers, Deputy Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi said their government had brought security where the United States had failed and said the group wanted positive relations with the world. “We want good relations with all countries, we will not let Afghanistan’s soil be used against anyone,” he said, adding that they want to address ongoing challenges in the country. The country is naturally safer than it was when the hardline Islamist movement was fighting foreign forces led by the US and its Afghan allies, although a local Islamic State offshoot has carried out several attacks. However, this relative security cannot hide the scale of the challenge the Taliban face in putting Afghanistan on a path of economic growth and stability. There are huge strains on the economy, largely caused by the country’s isolation as foreign governments refuse to recognize its rulers. Development aid on which the country relied so heavily has been cut as the international community demands the Taliban respect the rights of Afghans, particularly girls and women whose access to work and education has been restricted. The Taliban are demanding the return of $9 billion of central bank reserves held abroad, but talks with the United States face obstacles, including US demands that a sanctioned Taliban leader step down as second in command bank manager. The Taliban refuse to budge on these demands, saying they respect all Afghans’ rights under their interpretation of Islamic law. And until there is a significant shift in position on both sides, there is no immediate solution to the spiraling prices, rising unemployment and hunger that will worsen as winter sets in. A Taliban fighter stands guard on a bridge in Kabul, Afghanistan, August 6, 2022. REUTERS/Ali Khara read more “We are all heading towards darkness and misfortune,” said Amena Arezo, a doctor from the southeastern province of Ghazni. “People have no future, especially women.”
OVER HALF IN POVERTY
About 25 million Afghans now live in poverty – well over half the population, and the United Nations estimates that up to 900,000 jobs could be lost this year as the economy grinds to a halt. Fatima, who lives in Herat province in the west of the country, said she had noticed improved security over the past year, but noted with dismay that girls’ schools were closed and there was a lack of job opportunities for women. Like many Afghans, she asked that only her first name be used for fear of retaliation. Jawed, from the southern province of Helmand, which has seen heavy fighting in the past, said security had improved dramatically since the Taliban returned to power 20 years after being ousted by US-backed forces, but had also seen rampant inflation. When the Taliban last ruled Afghanistan in the late 1990s, women could not work, girls were banned from school and strict Islamic law was brutally enforced, including public executions. Civil society and independent media have also shrunk, with many of their members fleeing the country. The UN mission in Afghanistan said in a recent review that the group was curtailing dissent by arresting journalists, activists and protesters. A Taliban spokesman rejected the UN report and said arbitrary arrests were not allowed. The country’s administration is still considered a caretaker government or “de facto” authority with sitting ministers whose decisions can be overturned by the group’s supreme spiritual leader, based in the city of Kandahar. Some constitutional and legal experts say it is not always clear how the Islamic legal and moral code of sharia will be interpreted and applied in practice. “The most obvious problem is that there is no uniformity of law,” said Zalmai Nishat, an Afghan constitutional expert who previously worked as a government adviser. “Now it’s at the whims of the (Taliban) leader in Kandahar and also at the whims of those who lead on his behalf … that’s the problem, it’s the unpredictability.” Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Reporting by Mohammad Yunus Yawar and Charlotte Greenfield. Editing by Michael Collett-White, Raju Gopalakrishnan and Alison Williams Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
