For five years up until the US-led invasion after the 9/11 attacks, the Taliban had ruled Afghanistan. Now, two decades after they lost their control, the Taliban are back in power as. In August, the Afghanistan government collapsed and the Taliban took over Kabul. Over the last 20 years, the country has taken major steps to becoming a more modern, democratic state, and has made strides in the equal rights of women and ethnic minorities. However, many believe that the Taliban will set the country back and return to the brutal rule that they instated from 1996-2001.
What the Taliban has promised:
They will not seek to attack those who worked for the government
Media freedoms will be tolerated but with certain limits
They have ensured women’s rights and that women will have access to work and education
Why should we be skeptical of these promises? It’s hard to ignore the history of the Taliban in Afghanistan. During their initial rule, they forbade women the right to work and inhibited education for young girls. Women were not even allowed to leave their homes without a male relative accompanying them.
Even from what we have seen as of recent should raise an eyebrow to the promises made by the Taliban. In July, the Taliban went door to door looking for Afghans who had worked with the government. They ended up killing at least 27 civilians and wounding 10 more while also looting their homes. It is also hard to believe the Taliban's promise of media freedoms considering that the country is already considered one of the worst places to be a journalist and earlier this year, three female journalists were all killed on the same day.
The Afghans people have already shown how little faith they have in the Taliban when the videos of them trying to escape from the outside of planes went viral. Over 250,000 Afghans have fled their homes since the end of May because it appears unlikely that the Taliban will ever change its ways and improve the state of Afghanistan.
https://apnews.com/article/afghanistan-taliban-13304940ec709865ca52aae2d832b963
https://apnews.com/article/religion-taliban-7ab054c063e4ea1c14be9e4811f42982
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/asia-jan-june11-timeline-afghanistan
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