Taliban mark turbulent first year in power

The Taliban marked the first anniversary of their return to power in Afghanistan with a national holiday on Monday, following a turbulent year that saw women’s rights crushed and a humanitarian crisis worsen. On August 15 2021, the hardline Islamists captured Kabul after their nationwide lightning offensive against government forces ended 20 years of US-led military intervention. “We fulfilled the obligation of jihad and liberated our country,” said Niamatullah Hekmat, a fighter who entered Kabul on August 15 last year just hours after then-president Ashraf Ghani fled the country. Authorities have so far not announced any official celebrations to mark the anniversary, but state television said it would air special programmes. Taliban fighters, however, expressed happiness that their movement was now in power – even as aid agencies say that half the country›s 38 million people face extreme poverty. Afghanistan has been suffering through a grave humanitarian crisis since the Taliban took control. In total, nearly 20 million people – half the Afghan population – are suffering from food insecurity and 95 percent of the population do not have enough food to eat, according to the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP). More than a million children under the age of five suffer from acute and prolonged malnutrition.
The catastrophe worsened after the fall of Kabul and the exacerbation by the US decision to freeze the Afghan Central Bank’s assets and the international sanctions which crippled an already fragile economy. Afghanistan Aug 16 AFP