Taliban Marks 2 Years Since Return to Power in Afghanistan

Facts

• The Taliban declared a national holiday this week to mark the two-year anniversary of the Fall of Kabul, when the Taliban swept into the city, ending the US military's 20-year-long occupation of Afghanistan.¹
• To celebrate the anniversary on Tuesday, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid stated: "we would like to congratulate the mujahid [holy warrior] nation of Afghanistan and ask them to thank Almighty Allah for this great victory."²
• August 2021 saw the Taliban sweep the country in a massive offensive, prompting former Afghan leader Ashraf Ghani to flee the nation while the military collapsed as the US withdrew from the country. According to Reuters, parades and gatherings were expected to commemorate the takeover.³
• Though the country has since enjoyed a level of peace not seen in decades, the security situation is unstable as Islamic State (IS) attacks against the Taliban continue. Going forward, the Taliban seeks foreign recognition and sanctions relief, as well as the release of about $7B in central bank assets frozen in the US.⁴
• International attention has partially been centered on the new government's treatment of women and girls in the last two years. The Taliban have implemented a number of restrictions, including banning girls from secondary education and imposing travel restrictions on women.⁵
• Additionally, despite relative peace, Afghanistan has fallen into a catastrophic humanitarian crisis since 2021, with millions on the verge of starvation and in need of aid. More than 2.6M Afghan refugees are registered around the world, making them one of the largest global refugee populations.⁶

Sources: ¹CNN, ²Reuters, ³FOX News, ⁴Al Jazeera, ⁵BBC News, and ⁶The National.

Narratives

• Republican narrative, as provided by New York Post. Evidence continues to mount suggesting the Biden admin.'s rushed and chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan directly led to the fall of Kabul and the Taliban returning to power. There's no excuse for the unjust suffering the Afghan people have since endured, all because the Democratic president wanted to score some cheap political points. While it was Trump who signed the Doha Agreement, it was ultimately Biden who executed a botched withdrawal, condemning the country to chaos.
• Democratic narrative, as provided by Vox. America's disastrous invasion and occupation of Afghanistan under George W. Bush, not Biden's withdrawal, are to blame for the fall of Kabul and the current security crisis. The fact that Afghan security forces collapsed immediately after US forces left indicates that the security situation was simply unsustainable, and that the collapse was essentially inevitable. There are, of course, valid criticisms of the withdrawal, but most have been unnecessary partisan attacks against Biden.

Predictions