The Taliban sent shockwaves around the world last year when they rolled into Kabul on Aug. 15 and took back control of Afghanistan — 20 years after the U.S.-led War on Terror ousted them from power.
The extremist group, which ruled the central Asian country from 1996 to 2001, pitched itself as a reformed group last year, floating the idea of women in government, for example, a far cry from the days when they barred women from attending schools, banned music and stoned adulterers.
n the year since the insurgents forced Afghanistan’s military and government to flee, the Taliban haven’t shown reform with women’s rights being suppressed and various human rights violations being committed, a United Nations report published last month shows.
With that in mind, it’s hard to be optimistic about Afghanistan’s future, said Aurel Braun, a professor of international relations and political science at the University of Toronto.
“By any objective standards, the country is a disaster. As much as half of the population is facing hunger (and) the economy is in a horrible state,” he told Global News.
“Politically, this is a totalitarian system. In terms of human rights, their record is not only abysmal, but growing more so almost on a daily basis.”
One year into life under Taliban rule, at least 700 people have been killed and 1,406 have been wounded, the July 20 UN report states. The majority of those casualties are linked to attacks by the Islamic State group’s affiliate in the country, a rival of the Taliban.