Instability In Afghanistan As Taliban Clocks One Year In Power
When the Taliban occupied Afghanistan on 15 August 2021, they pledged to restore peace and stability in the country after decades of conflicted United States (US) occupation.
However, a year later, Afghanistan is undergoing forms of repression, poverty and injustice across the nation, ICIR reports.
To commemorate the anniversary women and girls have conducted demonstrations in the heart of Kabul.
“Bread, work, education, freedom,” they chanted as Taliban soldiers resorted to aerial firing to disperse the protesters.
A report by Amnesty International’s investigative titled ‘Death in Slow Motion: Women and Girls under Taliban rule’ says the Taliban’s draconian policies are denying millions of women and girls the chance to live safe, free, fulfilling lives.
“In less than a year, the Taliban have decimated the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan. They have violated women’s and girls’ rights to education, work and free movement and demolished the system of support for women and girls fleeing domestic violence,” the report said.
“Women who peacefully protested against these restrictions and policies have been harassed, threatened, arrested, forcibly disappeared, arbitrarily detained and tortured,” it added.
Afghanistan is also struggling with what the United Nations (UN) tags the world’s largest humanitarian crisis. More than half of its 38 million people are struggling with hunger and millions of children are suffering from malnutrition.
But in an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera, senior Taliban leader Anas Haqqani said over the past one year, the Taliban has brought “huge and numerous” development in addition to securing the country’s freedom and independence.
“Our paramount goal was to free our country of the shackles of occupation, to regain our freedom and independence, and that is what we accomplished.
“We do not wish to interfere in other countries or peoples’ affairs. It has been only one year since we assumed power, and the world should not expect us to achieve all our goals overnight.
“It is next to impossible, especially that [the international community] has not fulfilled their promises, including recognition of our rule and foreign aid. Despite the delay on their part, we, by the grace of God, achieved huge progress on many fronts,” Haqqani remarked.
Billions of dollars belonging to Afghanistan have been frozen by the US government, maiming the country’s economy.
Similarly, the western world has cut foreign aid, refusing to put money in the hands of the Taliban, quoting their abuse of women’s rights and human rights.
The US government has argued it will not discharge the $7 billion in reserves in Afghanistan’s central bank and has suspended talks with the Taliban on the matter after the US found, and killed Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in a drone strike late last month, in Kabul, the country’s capital city.
As contained in a statement, US Special Representative for Afghanistan Thomas West told the Wall Street Journal that recapitalization of the Afghan central bank was not a near-term option.
“We do not have confidence that that institution has the safeguards and monitoring in place to manage assets responsibly,” West added.
