In Arabic, the word “Talib” means “Students”. The Taliban , the ultraconservative political and religious party that arose in Afghanistan in the mid-1990s, are far from this. They consider themselves to be followers of Islam. As an Afghan, I have to conclude that  they are a multi-ethnic fundamentalist group who pride themselves in the murder of innocent people.  Oftentimes,  illiterate young people who lack proper understanding of Islam are scouted into the Taliban.None of their actions are in accordance with Islam.

Under their rule, activists, journalists, and former government officials have been unjustly imprisoned and assaulted. They have imposed policies and practices that violate women’s and girls’ rights to education, work, health, and mobility, among other fundamental rights. In 2001, some working women of Afghanistan were interviewed in a TV program called “From the 60 minutes archive” to talk about life under Taliban rule. A majority of them were heartbroken from losing their beloved ones. With tears in her eyes, a young psychologist recalled a time where militants entered a shop and killed everyone without reason. Her father and brother were included.

For 20 years, after the defeat of Taliban insurgents by US forces in 2001, Afghans had the opportunity of having a government that was fairly elected and chosen by the people.Yet, after 20 years,  we are facing a situation much worse than the first regime of Taliban.

When the peace negotiations began in 2020, the Taliban were supposed to have a ceasefire with the Afghan Government and the U.S. military forces. However, they violated this point many times by attacking the Afghan military forces and bombing the cities. During the intra-Afghan negotiations, another topic that was discussed was what would happen after the agreement was signed between the US and the Taliban. This was significantly unsuccessful because the Taliban imposed their demands on the Afghan government. They wanted the Afghan government to release their prisoners and ,in return, offered little to nothing.

Upon historical analysis, fulfilling this demand would be risky.Gulbuddin Hikmatyar, the former Mujahideen leader, founded and currently leads the Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin political party. During the 1990s, he served as Prime Minister twice. His vision aligned with the Taliban and this  helped the Taliban in achieving their goals to some extent.

 With the release of the prisoners, and the withdrawal of the U.S. military forces, the Taliban would become a lot stronger. It is important to mention that the release of the prisoners was already discussed and agreed upon during the U.S.-Taliban peace talks and included in the agreement prior to the Intra Afghan Peace Talks.

 “Up to five thousand (5,000) prisoners of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan which is not recognized by the United States as a state and is known as the Taliban and up to one thousand (1,000) prisoners of the other side will be released by March 10, 2020, the first day of intra-Afghan negotiations.”

The agreement itself is unusual. The U.S. has signed an agreement with a government that they do not recognize yet. Moreover, the agreement states:

“The obligations of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan which is not recognized by the United States as a state and is known as the Taliban in this agreement apply in areas under their control until the formation of the new post-settlement Afghan Islamic government as  determined by the intra-Afghan dialogue and negotiations.”

According to this excerpt, the intra-Afghan talks should have resulted in the formation of a new all-inclusive Afghan government. What was announced by the Taliban leaders as the new government was not inclusive at all.  There was a lack of representation of ethnicities in the new government. Furthermore, there was not a single woman in any leadership position. It seems odd that this negotiation was called the “Afghan Peace Negotiations between the Taliban and the U.S.” This agreement was far from peace. Afghanistan, its government and people were nowhere included in the talks. The agreement to bring peace to Afghanistan based on what we now see on the ground was not helpful for a smooth transition for any of the parties involved.

 In August 2021, after 20 years of war, the Taliban took over my country, Afghanistan. Even though I was in a different country, it was truly horrific event for me. I was born in 2001 and have no recollection of their time because I was a newborn baby but I have heard stories of their reign. My family has been forced to live twice under their inhumane dictatorship.

I recently had an interview with Afghan students who were frightened of leaving their country, owing to the Taliban’s threat. This documentary on my YouTube channel will provide you a holistic view of their tyranny and inhumane behavior with Afghans of all ages.

In my current location,  I am quite safe and occupied with my studies, but to be honest, I am worried about my family especially my young brother since I have heard the news that Taliban are planning to take young boys for “Jehad” training against non-Muslims “Kufr”.

The group concluded their astonishingly quick assault throughout the nation by taking Kabul.  According to the BBC, following the Taliban’s takeover of the nation on August 15, 2021, they reversed improvements in women’s rights and media freedom, two of the most significant successes of the post-2001 rebuilding effort. Air assistance for government forces has been decreased by the United States. The principal goals of the 2020 agreement were for Afghan officials and the Taliban to work on a political road map for a new government and constitution, reduce bloodshed, and eventually reach a long-term cease fire.

On 26^th October 2021, Afghan journalists faced threats and beatings despite Talib promises of the free press. Asma Amarkhil, an Afghan journalist, who focuses on women’s concerns and equality, received death threats even before the Taliban gained power. Based  on the survey, December 24, 2021, 231 media outlets have had to close and almost 6,400  journalists have lost their jobs. Starting from January 2022, there are many reports from  different TV channels of Afghanistan where female journalists are complaining about the Taliban’s refusal to let them conduct interviews or reports from the  new Islamic government.

“Are the Taliban now showing their true face to journalists?” has headlined many reports and news on different platforms.  There have been instances where Talib forces intrude the apartments of female journalists at midnight. They violently knock on their doors, asking them to come out and talk to them. Imagine for a while, people who call themselves Islamic government and shouting to invite its people to

the Islam religion who are already Muslims, knock a woman house to come out or get inside of the house to talk, how wouldn’t anybody feel insecure? How would you live in such a community? They are talking about a religion that gives the highest respect to females. A religion that always talk about humanity and peace

Habib Khan Totakhil, one of the recent migrant journalists in Germany, has spoken to  Denies Weinert and Patrick Weinert in a documentary. He claims that the new Islamic government in Afghanistan has nothing to do except killing innocent Afghans under name of Islam founded and planned by Pakistan. While posting the hashtag of (#SanctionOnPakistan), the government of Pakistan banned him on Twitter. Twitter requested him to stop that or else my accounts would be frozen. The Taliban has harassed Afghan journalists, detained them, and beaten them with cables. Some journalists have been exposed to torture-like treatment. Since the beginning of the week, there has been an increase in incidents involving media people in both Kabul and provincial towns. The Taliban have used the greatest violence against journalists in the capital, where the latest women’s rally was  ruled unlawful three hours after it was dispersed on September 8.

Many of the female Afghan journalists are complaining about the new regime. Afghan  journalists say,

“We face difficulties and insults while having interviews based on any case of Afghanistan’s current situation with them, (Tracy Shelter 25^th of October, 2021)”. 

All Afghan journalists including Sakina Amani, a female reporter, often recall stories of how the Taliban disrespect female journalists .They often do not respond to questions and deny interviews that are conducted by female journalists. They would prefer interviews conducted by male journalists. Often, they give the excuse that female journalists are not conforming to Islamic dress codes but this is untrue. Many female journalists protest on girl’s education and the basic rights of women.

Besides the Afghan journalists’ crises in Afghanistan, there are significant humanitarian crises as well. Millions of people are facing famine and malnutrition as a result of a prolonged drought and economic downturn. There are 3.3 million starving children in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan.

This famine does not only affect children. There are many hunger cases from other provinces of Afghanistan, such as Kandahar. In Kandahar, a teacher who was above 60 years old died of starvation (Dec 29^th, 2021. Legal News). He was not only a father, a brother, a husband. He was a wonderful mathematics teacher. We are losing more than thousands of our talented Afghans and lives in Afghanistan because of today’s situation and the new Islamic republic who call themselves  Amirul-momineen. The word “Amirul-momineen” is an Arabic word which means governor. Is this how a governor should do his job to the community? I myself get shocked when I think of Afghans current situation.

Female Afghan employees have lost their jobs and are now sitting on the roads and cleaning people’s shoes for ten or fifteen afghani (Nov 10^th, 2021 “Hadia Ahmadi” female teacher). Girls studying at school after 6^th grade are not allowed to go to school. This injustice and silence of the world on Afghans and the Afghan Nation will be always lasting. 

The people of Afghanistan have been treated like toys. The U.S. involvement in Afghanistan  as it is clear now was purely and solely for U.S. interests. Now that we see the situation, for  the past twenty years, neither the U.S. government nor the Afghan government managed to  secure those achievements. Of course, there were remarkable achievements as well, like  participation of women in social and political affairs in Afghanistan, education and many  other important things. However, it is all lost now. 

What could the U.S. do in Afghanistan in order to control the situation, should it have  stayed indefinitely? That would not be easy especially when the Taliban have been gaining  more and more power in the country and that makes it clear that if the US planned to stay  longer than they said they would, then we would witness the escalation of violence. So leaving and the withdrawal was the right choice for the United States. The U.S. left the same  way the first came into the country and that is: they focused entirely on U.S. interests.  Additionally United States did not pressure the Pakistani supporters of terrorism in fear

they might lose ground in Afghanistan. Looking at the current situation, especially at the  U.S. and Taliban peace agreement and its failure one can say that what happens in  Afghanistan is because of the decisions of the U.S.

The main promise made in the peace deal by the Taliban was that they will not attack the  U.S. personnel. Right after the deal was signed, according to New York Times, they carried  out at least 76 attacks across 24 provinces in Afghanistan. They also launched assassination  campaigns of government officials, journalists, human rights activists and civil society  actors. One of these human rights activists they killed was my friend Fatima Khalil, who had  graduated from the American University of Central Asia and started working at the Human  Rights Commission in Afghanistan. She was murdered with a magnetic bomb in her office  car. Many others became victims of targeted killings like Fatima Khalil. The Taliban  mentioned that after forming an all-inclusive Islamic government, they will also establish a  civilian casualty prevention and complaints commission. They even sent out WhatsApp  numbers to people via twitter to send in complaints. They have ties to Al-Qaeda that are  deepening now, and they are now even better armed. The Afghan and U.S. military backed  off so quickly that they left behind boxes of new army equipment that are now under the  control of Taliban. Could the U.S. e-mail or reach out to the Taliban complaint department  about this? There is nothing like that in the Taliban government. They can’t even use  telephones properly. Based on the surveys collected for this research, the majority of  Afghans say this was a betrayal of the promises made to the Afghan people while some  believe no one is to be blamed, it is better now that the Taliban took over because at least  there will not be any more attacks in places where civilians will be killed. However, this too  was nothing but just a believe among people. Even after the Taliban takeover, there were  many attacks where civilians were killed.

Looking at the data and the current situation there are many things to take away but two in  particular: Suicide attacks and civilian casualties will decrease or come to an end soon.  However, other important points like equal education, economy, employment and many  other things will remain disastrous in the coming years. It just seems the dark days of Afghanistan are just starting because ever since the Taliban takeover, the situation is  getting worse and worse and the entire world: other countries, the UN and everyone is

silent. There are no official statements and there is no recognition that makes the case  clear.

References:

Landale, James. “Afghanistan: What Rise of Taliban Means for Pakistan.” BBC News, BBC, 3  Sept. 2021, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia

58443839?at_custom1=%5Bpost%2Btype%5D&at_medium=custom7&at_custom4=B9FC C028-0D06-11EC-9424-C8CF4744363C&at_campaign=64&at_custom2=twitter. 

 https://www.facebook.com/100004432290582/posts/1938220763002315/?d=n Habib Khan Totakhil 

Shelton, Tracey. “’There’s No Taliban 2.0′: Afghan Media Face Crackdown amid Other Broken  Promises.” ABC News, ABC News, 26 Oct. 2021, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10- 26/afghan-journalists-face-threats-and-beatings-despite-promises/100520424. 

Shelton, Tracey. “’There’s No Taliban 2.0′: Afghan Media Face Crackdown amid Other Broken  Promises.” ABC News, ABC News, 26 Oct. 2021, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10- 26/afghan-journalists-face-threats-and-beatings-despite-promises/100520424. 

Whittall, Jonathan. “A Crisis of Legitimacy for Humanitarianism: In Conflict Situations How  Does the Close Relationship between Western Power and Humanitarian Aid Affect Emergency  Response Capacity and Access for Aid Organisations?” PhD Thesis, 22 Nov. 2017,  https://www.academia.edu/34394824/A_crisis_of_legitimacy_for_humanitarianism_In_conflict_ situations_how_does_the_close_relationship_between_Western_power_and_humanitarian_aid_a ffect_emergency_response_capacity_and_access_for_aid_organisations. 

Whittall, Jonathan. “A Crisis of Legitimacy for Humanitarianism: In Conflict Situations How  Does the Close Relationship between Western Power and Humanitarian Aid Affect Emergency  Response Capacity and Access for Aid Organisations?” PhD Thesis, 22 Nov. 2017, https://www.academia.edu/34394824/A_crisis_of_legitimacy_for_humanitarianism_In_conflict_

situations_how_does_the_close_relationship_between_Western_power_and_humanitarian_aid_a ffect_emergency_response_capacity_and_access_for_aid_organisations. 

Mashal, Mujib. “Another Young Leader Taken. Afghans Ask: How Many More?” The New York  Times, The New York Times, 29 June 2020, 

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/29/world/asia/afghanistan-women-human-rights.html.