Two years after takeover, Taliban unrepentant and ordinary Afghans bear brunt of suffering

Feigned moderate approach thrown out the window

But while the Taliban's campaign eventually resulted in persuading Western leaders into opening negotiations to resolve the conflict, the Taliban leadership was able to persuade the West that it would adopt a more moderate approach to running the country if it gained power.

Yet, when the Taliban finally seized power in August 2021 after the Biden administration's bitterly criticised decision to withdraw US forces from the country, the leadership made it abundantly apparent that they had little interest in forming a more inclusive administration.

Announcing the formation of an "Islamic Emirate", the Taliban succeeded in forming a new cabinet that was entirely male, one which included a number of senior Taliban figures who had played a key role in launching attacks against US and coalition forces over two decades.

Led by Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund, one of the movement's founders, who is on a UN blacklist, the new administration also included Sirajuddin Haqqani, the leader of the Haqqani militant group who topped the FBI's most-wanted list, who was appointed interior minister.

Little reason to celebrate

Consequently, while the Taliban mark the second anniversary of their return to power with victory parades and events being held in the capital Kabul, many ordinary Afghans feel they have little to celebrate — especially the country's womenfolk who have seen the many freedoms they enjoyed during the two decades the Taliban was not in power gradually eroded.

The Taliban's treatment of Afghan women during the two years since the US-backed president, Ashraf Ghani, fled the country certainly appears in stark contrast to the promises they made when they seized control of the country.

Back then, at the Taliban's first press conference after seizing power on 15 August 2021, a spokesman for the movement declared, "We are going to allow women to study and work without our framework. Women are going to be very active in our society."

Instead, the opposite appears to have happened, with the Taliban imposing a nationwide crackdown on women's rights, which has led to teenage girls being barred from attending school and female employees in government offices being ordered to stay at home.

Read more: Banned from schools, Afghan girls face bleak future

Other restrictions imposed on Afghan women include a ban on most Afghan female staff from working at aid agencies, beauty salons being closed and women not being allowed to travel in the absence of a male guardian.

As Amina Mohammed, deputy secretary-general of the UN, said in a statement marking the second anniversary of the Taliban's takeover, "It's been two years since the Taliban took over in Afghanistan. Two years that upturned the lives of Afghan women and girls, their rights and futures."

Taliban unbothered by criticism

Despite the widespread criticism these measures have attracted, prompting many international donors to withhold funding, the Taliban appear unrepentant, instead preferring to concentrate on their success in returning to power.

"On the second anniversary of the conquest of Kabul, we would like to congratulate the mujahid (holy warrior) nation of Afghanistan and ask them to thank Almighty Allah for this great victory," the spokesman for the Taliban, Zabihullah Mujahid, said in a statement.

The Taliban's uncompromising approach, especially on the issue of women's rights, threatens to undermine their efforts to bring political and economic stability to a country that has been blighted by decades of conflict, dating back to the Soviet Union's invasion of the country in 1979.

Normal Afghans bear brunt of West's reactionary measures

Many Western governments and aid agencies view the Taliban's repressive measures as being a major obstacle to any hope of formal recognition of the Taliban administration and have reacted by cutting or freezing aid programmes, with catastrophic results for the country's estimated population of 40 million people.

A recent report by Crisis Group estimated that about 28 million Afghans — equivalent to two-thirds of the population — are in need of humanitarian aid. Meanwhile, the UN estimates that the country requires $4.6bn in aid — the largest request it has made for a single country.

But with the Taliban showing little inclination to change its approach, the prospect of Western donors increasing their support for Kabul appears remote, especially after a recent meeting of G7 leaders concluded that, following the Taliban's restrictions on women's basic freedoms, there would be "consequences for how our countries engage with the Taliban."

In their defence, the Taliban argue that they have made good progress in tackling the endemic corruption that took place when the Western-backed government ran Kabul.

There are also signs that the Taliban's ban on narcotics cultivation has dramatically reduced poppy production in what has for years been the world's biggest source of opium.

But if the Taliban are serious about making Afghanistan a truly stable state, then they will need to make the changes necessary to persuade foreign donors to provide the aid money they so desperately need.