Suffocating restrictions and a humanitarian crisis: Taliban marks five years in power in Afghanistan

Taliban curbs women's rights despite pledge

On August 2, some two weeks after the brief loss of the district center, former Afghan army general Sami Sadat ordered his forces to launch attacks against the Taliban across the country.

They have watched on as the Taliban barred access to school for girls over 12, restricted travel without a male chaperone and brought in a law implying legal approval for child marriage.

Plummeting assistance comes as the Taliban wages a continued assault on the rights of women and girls, eroding legal protections and systemically stripping them of agency under a system experts have described as “gender apartheid.” Their efforts have successfully erased half the population from public life and made Afghanistan one of the world’s most dangerous places to be a woman.