Taliban mark 5 years in power as aid groups warn of crisis

The Taliban marked five years in power on Saturday, seeking to portray their government as in control even as aid and rights groups warned of escalating crises. Outside the former US embassy in Kabul, armoured Taliban vehicles took part in a parade, displaying flags and banners, and celebrating what the government described as “victory day” from Western domination. Sirajuddin Haqqani, the Taliban’s interior minister, said in a video address that their return to power was the result of “morale, courage” and “divine assistance”. But he also made a rare acknowledgement of “issues and problems that may still exist.” International organisations and the UN say the Taliban have struggled to address the natural and humanitarian crises Afghanistan has faced over the past five years, in part because Afghan women are under severe restrictions. The Taliban have also faced a string of assassinations of key regional officials in the country’s northeast in recent weeks. In late July, the Taliban’s information director in Badakhshan province was killed in an attack later claimed by Islamic State. The mayor of the province’s capital also died in an attack on Thursday, local media reported. Taliban officials did not immediately confirm the reports. Diplomatic inroads When the Taliban returned to power in 2021 amid the withdrawal of the US and its allies, they promised to govern more liberally than they had in the late 1990s and early 2000s a period marked by public executions, the sheltering of Osama bin Laden and the destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas. But those assurances quickly faltered, human rights groups say. The Taliban have imposed sweeping restrictions on women and girls since 2021, barring 2.5 million of them from secondary schools and universities, according to Unesco, and limiting their freedom of movement. Half of Afghan women now leave their homes only once or twice a month, according to data released by UN Women on Wednesday. The Taliban say they respect women’s right