Five years on, Taliban rule draws both celebration and criticism in Afghanistan

Afghanistan marked five years of Taliban rule on Saturday, with supporters staging street rallies in Kabul and other cities, even as critics highlighted tightening restrictions on daily life, particularly for women.

On the anniversary of the Taliban's takeover of Kabul on August 15, 2021, crowds packed into cars decorated with flags and drove through the capital. Government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid described the day as one that "will be written in golden lines in the history of Afghanistan."

Hundreds gathered near the former U.S. embassy, where flowers were dropped from military helicopters over a parade of athletes. The parade featured only men, reflecting the Taliban's ban on women participating in sports.

Asif Khan Barakzai, a 21-year-old in Kabul, said he feels "peace, comfort and calmness" under the Taliban administration, which refers to itself as the Islamic Emirate. Security checkpoints were increased in the capital, where some vehicles abandoned by foreign forces, including Humvees, were driven in convoy.

Rallies were also reported in Kandahar, home to the movement's supreme leader, and in Herat, where stuntmen performed in the streets, according to AFP journalists.

In an appeal to the international community, foreign ministry spokesman Zia Ahmad Takal invited countries to "come here, invest, and make extensive use of the available economic opportunities."

However, the economic picture remains mixed. The World Bank has estimated real growth at 4.8 percent, but GDP per capita is declining, partly due to an influx of more than six million Afghans returning from neighbouring Iran and Pakistan over the past three years.

The Taliban government remains unrecognised internationally except by Russia. Relations with Pakistan have deteriorated sharply, and the two countries went to war this year, compounding a humanitarian crisis already worsened by cuts in international aid.

Some nations have limited their engagement with the Taliban until changes are made. The United Nations says Afghans are suffering "very real harm" under the current administration. Fiona Frazer, human rights director for the UN mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), said people have endured the "consolidation of suffocating restrictions that intrude on almost every aspect of their daily lives, and their human rights."

The Committee to Protect Journalists has also criticised what it called the "brutal repression of the press," with media workers "surveilled, detained, beaten, censored, or driven into exile."

Women have faced particularly severe measures. They are banned from public places such as parks, excluded from most jobs, and girls above the age of 12 are not allowed to attend school.

One 35-year-old widow in Kabul, who said her husband was killed by Taliban insurgents before they took power, described her grief on the anniversary. "Whenever this month and this time of year arrives, a very intense grief overcomes me," she told AFP. "I will remain in mourning as long as they are in power."

The divergent reactions illustrate the deep divide in Afghan society over the Taliban's return to power, five years after the chaotic withdrawal of U.S.-led forces and the collapse of the previous government.