Taliban

Since the Taliban takeover in August 2021, the landscape of Afghan civil society has dramatically changed. Understanding these conditions and constraints is crucial for external actors, especially as they attempt to engage with local organizations.

It has been one year since the Taliban took over in Afghanistan in August 2021. Following the announcement of the final withdrawal of international forces, the Taliban’s fast expanse from the provinces to the capital took everyone by surprise. Twelve months after the traumatic events, the situation on the ground has further deteriorated.

The unexpected ban of secondary school education of girls on 23 March 2022 by the Taliban authority was condemned by the international community. Professor Michael Daxner, who has been actively involved in the higher education sector in Afghanistan for the last several years, gives an overview of challenges currently faced.

The story narrates ordeal of artist community of Afghanistan who are in deep crisis after toppling of Afghan government by Taliban. Almost all musicians and melody performers in Afghanistan abandoned their profession and went into hiding to escape Taliban’s wrath.

The Taliban takeover in Kabul, the frantic evacuation efforts of foreign nationals and vulnerable Afghans, and the fear among those left behind of being targeted by the new regime are shining a spotlight on the double-edged nature of government data collection as well as digital communication tools in times of crisis.

Just days after Taliban violently seized control of Afghanistan, the Greek Minister for Migration and Asylum, Notis Mitarakis, has warned of a repeat of the situation in 2015 and announced that Greece will not be the “gateway to Europe for illegal Afghan migrants”.

The Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan in recent days has brought new dimensions of  human suffering and political crisis to what is arguably the most protracted refugee crisis of modern times.

What is needed now is a special programme to resettle people living in danger in Afghanistan and to give Afghan nationals already living in Germany the right to remain and prospects for their futures!

Summary of the online debate „The peace process in Afghanistan: Perceptions of the people“ of 11 November 2020 with representatives of Afghan civil society, Afghan media, the Afghan government delegation to the peace negotiations in Doha and the German Foreign Office.