Recently, I spent eight days in Afghanistan’s capital Kabul to understand the changes and challenges under Taliban rule.
Last year when the United States and NATO forces withdrew and the Taliban came to power much faster than anticipated, I traveled to Afghanistan to see the transformation process and the beginning of the Taliban era.
It was real chaos... Armed Taliban forces were everywhere, the airport was closed, thousands were trying to flee and many were hiding in their homes.
At that time I interviewed women who were in hiding and working with the old regime, Taliban government spokesperson Mr. Zabihullah Mujahid and Afghanistan's most famous political face, former President Hamid Karzai, among many others from politics and business.
Afghanistan was entering a turbulent era. Nothing was foreseeable...
Now, after one year, I returned to see the changes.
To get to Kabul last year, we first flew to the Pakistani capital Islamabad, from where we traveled by car to the Torkham border, a major crossing between the Pakistani city of Torkham and Afghanistan. We walked across the border, which was very crowded and almost impossible to cross, changed cars on the Afghan side and then drove five more hours to Kabul in a very intimidating atmosphere.
This year there is air transport at least. Charter flights started from Istanbul and Ankara in Türkiye to Kabul, therefore, we flew directly to Kabul airport, which was quiet and organized this time.
There are still many checkpoints across the city, however, compared to last year, there seem to be slightly fewer armed Taliban forces around.
There are many challenges, first of all, the economy is close to collapse. The country's assets have been frozen by the World Bank, the new government is not recognized internationally and there is almost no possibility for economic interaction between Afghanistan and the world.
I noticed that starvation is an alarming problem. The deterioration of the economy is even evident on the streets. More children and people in need ask for money or food on the streets.
Another problem is the ban on girls attending secondary school. The Taliban closed schools for girls after the sixth grade.
Another issue is women’s employment. Many women are thrown out of the workforce. Will they be able to go to work or not?
These are the main issues challenging the new regime.
I went to interview former President Hamid Karzai in his compound after one year. He is the loudest advocate in the country for women's education. He told me that the schools must reopen. Most of the Taliban, at least everyone he speaks to and everyone addressing the public, supports the education of girls, Karzai said, adding that the Taliban government cannot insist on this wrong decision. He also stressed that this is not a part of the Afghan culture. He criticized Pakistan for trying to keep Afghanistan backward and uneducated.
I also interviewed Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid again this time. He told me that they are working on the problem concerning girls’ education but did not specify any foreseeable steps.
I have many notes and observations from the streets of Kabul streets and my discussions with Taliban government officials. I spoke to the Taliban Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Mr. Abdulhakkar Balki, and the deputy of the special envoy of the United Nations to Afghanistan in the U.N. compound, Mr. Ramiz Alakbarov.
I will continue to write about my observations and interviews in Afghanistan...
