For two decades, the United States and its allies have lost thousands of lives and spent nearly two trillion dollars in Afghanistan to prevent the Taliban from governing, yet the fate of that country seems vastly different from what was feared.
A report in the British magazine The Economist revealed that the Taliban's efforts to rule Afghanistan were not below those of previous governments recently, and in some ways exceeded the low expectations taken for granted, especially in their approach to dealing with terrorism, where al-Qaeda is at its lowest levels of activity globally, so that Zalmay Khalilzad (former US envoy to Afghanistan) recently indicated that the threat of terrorism has not increased in Afghanistan.
Although the return of Taliban militants to power was in many ways disastrous for the country's 40 million people, it acknowledged that the Taliban government has proven to be more committed to reform than its predecessors.
But the new Taliban rule was a real disaster for women, as Afghanistan became the only country where female studies at the upper secondary level or work in most professions were prohibited, until 2.5 million (80 percent of school-age women and girls) were uneducated.
Applying the law
Although most of the country has been mired in hunger due to volatile global food prices and an economic crisis caused by the withdrawal of Western support, the Taliban have halted the dollar's hemorrhage from the country by imposing strict capital controls and cracking down on smuggling, bringing the Afghan (local currency) against the dollar to a level not far from the day before the fall of Kabul.
Indeed, according to the Economist report, the Taliban have improved the application of economic law in all areas, which greatly increased customs revenues despite the decline in international trade, until the total revenues for the year, ending in March 2023, reached about $ 2.3 billion, because the threat of border enforcement, such as cutting off the hand of a thief, strongly discouraged customs officials from accepting bribes, according to an adviser to Mullah Baradar, deputy prime minister in charge of economic strategy.
Acknowledging such progress is not a tribute to the Taliban's cruel tactics, but an indictment of the corrupt NATO-backed governments that the group has replaced.
The Taliban passed a roadwork project that had been obstructed for years by illegal squatters, street vendors were crammed into designated areas, drug addicts were moved from the streets to rehabilitation centers, dirty restaurants were closed, and 30,<> street dogs were vaccinated against rabies.
Although Afghanistan lost 75 percent of its foreign-donated budget, the Taliban have raised enough revenue to pay the salaries of 800,62 government employees, after the proportion of companies bribing customs officials fell from 8 percent to 41 percent, according to a recent World Bank survey, even though <> percent of spending goes to defense and security.
Important Reviews
The head of a Kabul-based media company, who is not a fan of Taliban rule, believes that "Afghanistan today is better run than Pakistan" and that Afghan television stations are more free to report news than those in India. A group of foreign and local archaeologists and curators of Kabul's rich Afghan heritage praise the Taliban for their support in restoring pre-Islamic sites.
Zia-ul-Haq Markhil, governor of Nangarhar province before the Taliban takeover, says they are running things "right", explaining that Afghans outside the country "don't agree with it but they are not here, they don't know the truth, I'm here and I know the truth."
The suffering continues
Despite these improvements, the report finds that suffering remains widespread, with the United Nations estimating that 700,<> people have lost their jobs, and that middle-class families working in sectors most dependent on foreign support have been particularly affected, including NGOs, business services, hospitality and the media.
The countryside, home to 75 percent of Afghans, has been ravaged by years of drought, making conditions more difficult: "We no longer have to risk our lives to get our crops to markets, but what we sell has decreased and therefore what we eat has decreased," says farmer Mohammad Tahir.
The Economist report concluded that there were two major barriers standing in the way of the Taliban gaining international acceptance. First, its insufficient efforts to combat "terrorism" and second, the "restrictions" imposed on women and girls, especially the decision to prevent them from attending secondary schools and universities, and from working for non-governmental organizations and UN agencies.