Five years after Taliban takeover, life in Afghanistan marred by many struggles

The Taliban's return to power in Afghanistan on August 15, 2021, marked a watershed moment in South Asian geopolitics, ending two decades of US-led intervention and the Islamic Republic established under the 2004 Constitution. The swift collapse of the Ashraf Ghani government — following the Doha Agreement (February 2020) between the US and Taliban — revealed the fragility of state institutions built on external military and financial scaffolding. Five years later, the Taliban's 'Islamic Emirate' governs a nation of 40 million people trapped in a polycrisis: economic implosion, gender apartheid, humanitarian catastrophe, and diplomatic isolation. The economic foundations have crumbled. Following the takeover, the US froze approximately $7 billion of Afghanistan's central bank reserves (Da Afghanistan Bank) held in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, while the IMF and World Bank suspended access to Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) and development funding. This precipitated a liquidity crisis, currency depreciation, and collapse of public services. By 2024, over 28 million Afghans — nearly 67% of the population — require humanitarian assistance according to UN OCHA, with 15.8 million facing acute food insecurity (IPC Phase 3+). The economy, previously sustained by foreign aid constituting 75% of public expenditure, has contracted by an estimated 27% since 2021. Opium cultivation, banned by the Taliban in April 2022, previously generated $1.4 billion annually; its eradication, while ideologically consistent, removed a critical rural income source without alternative livelihoods. The most egregious regression concerns women's rights. In December 2022, the Taliban banned women from university education and working with national/international NGOs; in April 2023, this extended to UN agencies. These decrees erased two decades of progress: female literacy had risen from near-zero (2001) to 30% (2021), women held 27% of parliamentary seats (per 2004 Constitution Article 83), and participated in judiciary, media, and civil service. The UN Special Rapporteur on Afghanistan (Richard Bennett, 2023) characterized this as 'gender apartheid' — a crime against humanity under the Rome Statute (Article 7(1)(h)). The Taliban justify restrictions through their interpretation of Sharia, but no major Islamic scholar body endorses a total education ban. Regionally, Afghanistan-Pakistan relations have deteriorated sharply. Pakistan accuses the Taliban of harboring Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants who launch cross-border attacks; the Taliban deny this but refuse to act decisively. Border clashes at Chaman (Balochistan) and Torkham (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) in 2023-24 disrupted trade. The Durand Line (1893), never accepted by Kabul as an international border, remains a flashpoint. Pakistan's 2023 expulsion of 1.7 million undocumented Afghans added to the humanitarian burden. Meanwhile, China, Russia, and Iran engage pragmatically — maintaining embassies in Kabul, seeking counterterrorism cooperation, and eyeing mineral resources (lithium, copper) — but withhold formal recognition. For India, the stakes are profound. India invested over $3 billion in Afghan infrastructure (Salma Dam, Parliament building, Zaranj-Delaram highway, Chabahar port linkage) and built deep people-to-people ties. The Taliban's proximity to Pakistan's security establishment raises concerns about anti-India militant groups (LeT, JeM) gaining sanctuary. India's approach — calibrated engagement without recognition — includes humanitarian aid (50,000 MT wheat via Chabahar, 2022-23), technical team deployment to Kabul (June 2022), and participation in regional formats (Moscow Format, Delhi Regional Security Dialogue). However, India's leverage remains limited without a stable, inclusive government in Kabul. Constitutionally, India's engagement aligns with Article 51(c) of the Constitution (Directive Principles): 'foster respect for international law and treaty obligations.' The Citizenship Amendment Act (2019) also reflects India's commitment to persecuted minorities from Afghanistan (Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, Christians). Broader themes include the fragility of externally imposed state-building, the limits of counterterrorism-driven foreign policy, and the tension between humanitarian imperatives and political recognition. Future implications are bleak. Without policy reversal on women's rights, recognition remains unlikely. Climate change (recurring droughts, flash floods) will deepen food insecurity. The Taliban's inability to provide governance beyond security — no merit-based bureaucracy, no revenue diversification — risks internal fragmentation. For aspirants, this case study encapsulates the intersection of hard power, human security, and normative foreign policy — a recurring motif in UPSC Mains (GS Paper 2: International Relations; GS Paper 3: Internal Security) and Essay papers.