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Friday, August 14Friday, August 14
Five years after the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan, the country faces a deepening humanitarian crisis marked by severe hunger, repression of women’s rights, and a collapsing education system for girls.
The Taliban took control of Kabul on Aug. 15, 2021, following a rapid offensive. Since then, the group has systematically restricted women’s rights, barring girls from secondary and higher education and limiting women’s employment, according to reports from the United Nations and aid organizations. Afghanistan is now the only country where girls and women are prohibited from attending secondary school and university, the U.N. noted.
The humanitarian situation has deteriorated sharply. The World Food Programme reported that 47% of Afghan children under 5 were under nourished in the first quarter of 2026, a level described as unprecedented by the agency. WFP country director John Aylieff told journalists in Geneva that funding shortfalls had forced the program to scale back nutrition support, leaving it able to feed only one in nine of the 14 million people facing acute hunger. “Too many are arriving too late to be saved,” Aylieff said, citing critical levels of child wasting in a third of Afghanistan’s provinces .
Climate-related disasters and economic strain have compounded the crisis. Floods and droughts have devastated crops, while international aid remains underfunded—only 42% of required funds were provided last year, according to the Norwegian Refugee Council. Thamindri de Silva, head of World Vision International in Herat, described the situation as uniquely severe: “In Afghanistan, there are conflicts, a famine, and natural disasters all at the same time” .
Diplomatic tensions persist as the Taliban seek international recognition. Manizha Bakhtari, Afghanistan’s ambassador to Vienna, told Austrian media she continues to represent the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and rejects the Taliban regime. She confirmed that Taliban-appointed diplomats now control Afghanistan’s embassy in Berlin and consulates in Munich and Bonn, despite German officials framing the arrangement as technical. Bakhtari said the Taliban have pressured Austria to remove her, including by sending dismissal letters through their embassy in Islamabad .
For Afghan women, resistance takes quiet forms. Shaheda Hakimi, an 18-year-old in Kabul, completed her secondary education through an online school after the Taliban banned girls from classrooms. She has since secured a full scholarship to a Canadian university but faces bureaucratic hurdles, including the need to leave Afghanistan to apply for a visa. Over 2.4 million girls are now excluded from secondary education, UNICEF estimates, as the Taliban have issued more than 70 decrees restricting women’s rights since 2021 .
Nearly 5.9 million people have returned to Afghanistan since September 2023, a 10-12% population increase, as neighboring Pakistan and Iran tighten policies against Afghan refugees, the U.N. reported. Many return to avoid deportation, further straining resources in a country already grappling with mass displacement and economic collapse.
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