Six months of Taliban: Afghans less hopeful, economy stumbles
KABUL: Afghanistan has undergone a dramatic transformation in half a year of Taliban rule.
The country feels safer, less violent than it has in decades, but the once aid-fuelled economy is barrelling toward collapse. Tens of thousands of Afghans have fled or have been evacuated, including large numbers of educated elites. They either fear for their economic future or lack of freedom under a group that ascribes to a strict interpretation of Islam. During its previous rule in the late 1990s, the Taliban barred girls from school and women from work.
Tuesday marks six months since the Afghan capital of Kabul was ceded to the Taliban with the sudden and secret departure of the country’s U.S.-backed president. The takeover of Kabul was preceded by a months-long Taliban campaign to take control of provincial areas, many of which fell with hardly a fight.
Today, the sight of armed Taliban fighters roaming the street still jars and frightens residents. But women have returned to the streets, and many young men have put on Western clothes again after initially shedding them for the traditional shalwar kameez, the long shirt and baggy pants favoured by the Taliban.
Unlike in the 1990s, the TaliStates ban are allowing some women to work. Women are back in their jobs in the health and education ministries, as well as at Kabul International Airport, often next to men. Thousands of jobs have been lost in the economic downward spiral, and women have been hit hardest.
The Taliban have cracked down on women’s protests and harassed journalists, including briefly detaining two foreign journalists working with the U.N. refugee agency last week.
On Monday, the detention of some young men selling heartshaped flowers in recognition of Valentine’s Day was a stark reminder that the new all-male religion-driven administration has no tolerance for Western ideas of romance.
Girls in grades one to six have been going to school, but those in the higher grades are still locked out in most parts of the country. The Taliban promised all girls will be in school at the end of March.
Poverty is deepening. Even those who have money have a hard time accessing it. At banks, lines are long as residents wait for hours to withdraw a limit of $200 a week.
More than $9 billion in Afghanistan’s foreign assets were frozen after the Taliban takeover. Last week, President Joe Biden signed an executive order that promised $3.5 billion — out of $7 billion of Afghanistan’s assets frozen in the United — would be given to families of America’s 9/11 victims. The other $3.5 billion would be freed for Afghan aid.
Afghans across the political spectrum have decried the order, accusing the U.S. of taking money that belongs to Afghans.
On Tuesday, about 3,000 Afghans protested Biden’s order carrying placards calling “Biden the world thief of 2022”.
The Taliban have campaigned for international recognition of their all-male, all-Taliban government, but they are being pressed to create an inclusive administration and guarantee the rights of women and religious minorities.
The Taliban have re-opened the country’s passport office, which is clogged with thousands of people a day. The Taliban have promised Afghans they can travel, but only with proper documents.
Alam Gul Haqqani, who manages passport offices countrywide, said the administration is negotiating for new equipment and has reinstated 70 percent of former employees. The government had to recruit new technical staff because most of the previous professional staff had left the country, he said.
International aid workers who spoke on condition of anonymity said the Taliban have reduced corruption in the past six months.