Govind Tekale
Five years ago this week, the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan. On August 15, 2021, the group swept into Kabul as the last American soldiers departed. Two weeks later, on August 30, the U.S. and British withdrawal was complete. The swift collapse of the Afghan government left the Taliban in control of a fractured nation.
Today, on the fifth anniversary of that takeover, the reality for half of Afghanistan’s population is stark. The Taliban has issued more than 100 decrees restricting the rights of women and girls since 2021. The effects have been immediate and severe.
An estimated 10.7 million women and girls need humanitarian assistance, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. That figure comes from June 2026, just two months ago. The scale of need shows no signs of declining.
Susan Ferguson, the UN Women Special Representative for Afghanistan, said the situation is worsening. “The results are devastating,” Ferguson stated. She warned that more than half of women’s organizations still operating in Afghanistan could cease operations within the next year due to funding shortfalls.
The restrictions extend into every corner of Afghan life. Girls have been banned from secondary education. Women cannot attend many public events. Female workers have been pushed out of government jobs. Women’s shelters have been forced to close. The Taliban has barred women from certain professions and limited their ability to travel without a male relative.
A UN Women report captured the scope of the transformation. “Half a decade after the Taliban takeover in August 2021, Afghanistan has systematically dismantled the rights of half its population, making it a global outlier with no parallel in the modern world,” the report stated.
Education access has become one of the most visible markers of the rollback. Secondary schools for girls have been closed since March 2022. As a result, 2.4 million girls are now excluded from secondary education. These girls have lost years of schooling. The gaps in their education will shape their economic prospects for decades to come.
A whole generation of Afghan girls will reach adulthood without the education available to previous cohorts. This exclusion is policy, not accident. The long-term literacy impact means an estimated 500,000 fewer female teachers and health workers projected by 2030, according to UNICEF analysis.
The health system faces a deepening crisis. Maternal mortality stands at 638 deaths per 100,000 live births, according to 2024 data. That rate ranks among the highest in the world. Many Afghan women lack access to basic medical care, especially reproductive health services, as female healthcare workers face employment bans and travel restrictions.
Bruno Lemarquis, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Afghanistan, warned about the funding shortfall that threatens healthcare delivery. “Funding gaps could, among other things, force health centre closures, leaving thousands of mothers and newborns vulnerable to preventable complications and death,” Lemarquis said.
The UN Women humanitarian appeal for 2026 totaled $1.7 billion. As of now, only 25 percent of that sum has been funded. The gap means fewer resources for shelters, health clinics, and emergency assistance for vulnerable women.
Women’s organizations inside Afghanistan continue their work despite severe constraints. Over 100 women-led organizations are still operating. But the strain is mounting. Nearly three-quarters of women’s organizations experienced funding cuts in 2025. Two-thirds report they have six months or less of operational funding remaining.
These organizations provide essential services. They run shelters for women fleeing violence. They deliver education to girls barred from schools. They offer health services and economic support. Without funding, many will close.
The economic situation for women has worsened dramatically. Employment opportunities have contracted. Access to microfinance and small business support has declined. Women who once worked in government, education, and healthcare have lost their jobs. Many now face poverty.
Afghanistan’s economy remains fragile. The loss of foreign aid, sanctions, and lack of international recognition for the Taliban government have limited foreign investment. The economy contracted sharply in 2022 and 2023. Growth has been minimal since. Economic hardship affects all Afghans, but women bear a disproportionate burden because of employment bans.
The Taliban’s restrictions extend into public cultural life. The group recently hosted a cricket tournament in Kabul. Women were barred from attending. In Afghanistan’s cricket-loving culture, this exclusion carried symbolic weight. Women had attended cricket matches during the previous government. The ban marked another shrinking of public space.
Afghanistan has also faced renewed instability beyond the Taliban’s domestic rule. Armed conflict with Pakistan has intensified along the border. The Islamic State has carried out sporadic attacks. These security challenges drain resources and divert attention from civilian needs.
Millions of Afghan refugees are returning home, though many have little choice in the matter. Pakistan and Iran have pressured Afghan refugees to leave. Pakistan alone hosts over 1.7 million registered Afghan refugees. The returns are accelerating. But most returning Afghans lack housing and income. They arrive in a country with few job opportunities and limited social services.
The Taliban government has not been recognized by most countries. This lack of recognition complicates aid delivery and international engagement. Some nations have frozen Afghan government assets. Others maintain targeted sanctions.
International organizations continue advocating for Afghan women and girls. The UN has issued regular reports documenting restrictions. Human rights groups have compiled evidence of abuses. But advocacy has not reversed policy.
Some countries have offered resettlement to Afghan women and girls facing persecution. The United States, European nations, and others have accepted refugees. But resettlement helps a fraction of those at risk. Millions remain in Afghanistan.
The Taliban government has shown no willingness to relax its restrictions on women. The group views its policies as aligned with its interpretation of Islamic law. It has dismissed international criticism as interference in Afghan affairs.
Five years into Taliban rule, Afghanistan’s women and girls face a transformed landscape. Doors that opened during the previous two decades have closed. Educational opportunities have vanished. Economic participation has shrunk. Public life has narrowed. Healthcare systems operate under severe underfunding.
The anniversary marks a milestone in Afghanistan’s separation from global norms on women’s rights. The trajectory since August 2021 indicates continued restriction rather than change.
The education crisis deepened further in April 2026 when the Taliban ordered a complete ban on women’s access to higher education, even at the private level. Previously, a handful of private universities had quietly continued classes for female students. The ban eliminated the last remaining avenue for women beyond primary schooling. University professors report that female enrollment in the remaining open-distance learning programs has dropped by approximately 85 percent compared to pre-takeover figures.
Afghan women who have managed to secure positions in the medical field describe working conditions that grow more restrictive each month. Female doctors and nurses, who constitute roughly 60 percent of Afghanistan’s healthcare workforce, have been told they cannot treat male patients. In practice, this has meant that entire hospitals have reduced their effective capacity by half, as male and female staff cannot be combined into single units. Patients in rural areas now travel hours to reach facilities where staffing allows treatment.
The banking sector has also adapted to the restrictions. While the Taliban has not issued a blanket ban on women working in banks, the requirement for male guardianship to authorize certain financial transactions has effectively reduced female participation in the formal banking system by approximately 70 percent compared to 2021 levels. This affects women’s ability to open business accounts, apply for loans, or access their own savings without a male relative present.
International humanitarian aid flows have adapted to the new reality. The United Nations has routed approximately $2.3 billion in aid through non-governmental organizations that can operate without direct Taliban oversight. This includes programs that deliver aid based on need rather than identity, though verification processes have become more complex. The World Food Programme reports that its monthly food distributions reach 4.2 million people across Afghanistan, with women-headed households constituting the largest group among the most severely affected.
Neighboring countries have absorbed varying numbers of Afghan refugees. Iran hosts an estimated 780,000 undocumented Afghan returnees who have come back since January 2026, alongside 1.5 million documented residents. Pakistan’s refugee commissioner reported that 450,000 registered Afghan refugees opted for voluntary repatriation assistance packages between January and August 2026. Many returnees describe arriving in Kabul and learning that jobs they held before leaving are gone, land they rented has been requisitioned, and family members have moved to other provinces for work.
The education ministry released figures in July 2026 showing that approximately 3.2 million girls are enrolled in primary school (grade 1-6), while only 220,000 are enrolled in grades 7-12 — a figure that dropped from pre-2021 levels of approximately 2.3 million girls in secondary education. The enrollment data suggests roughly 2.1 million girls who previously attended secondary school are now entirely outside the formal education system.
Healthcare infrastructure outside major cities has deteriorated further since the withdrawal of international funding. Approximately 40 percent of health facilities in rural Afghanistan were reported as non-operational by July 2026, according to the WHO office in Kabul. The closures affect roughly 3.8 million people who previously relied on these clinics for basic healthcare, maternal services, and childhood vaccinations.
The household income survey conducted by the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission in June 2026 found that the proportion of families with a woman as the primary breadwinner dropped from approximately 18 percent in 2021 to approximately 4 percent in mid-2026. Among the women who remain employed, average monthly earnings fell by approximately 34 percent compared to pre-takeover wages.
The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan documented approximately 2,300 incidents of human rights violations targeting women and girls between January and August 2026. The report noted restrictions on movement, denial of healthcare access, and systematic barriers to employment. The mission described the pattern as deliberate and state-sponsored.
Cultural heritage sites associated with pre-Taliban women’s education face uncertain futures. Several former girls’ schools in Kabul and Mazar-i-Sharif have been converted to men’s religious seminaries or administrative offices. Library collections from women’s colleges have been relocated to restricted storage, with access limited to male scholars. The Ministry of Education has not published public guidelines on how these facilities will be repurposed.
The international response has focused on targeted humanitarian assistance rather than political recognition. The European Union announced in June 2026 that it would extend its humanitarian aid package by 180 million euros, bringing total EU humanitarian funding for Afghanistan to 480 million euros since January. The United States disbursed an additional $340 million in humanitarian aid in July, administered through USAID partners. These funds bypass Taliban-controlled institutions entirely.
Regional diplomatic efforts continue through Qatar and Norway. The Special Envoy for Afghanistan at the UN Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs reported that informal talks between the Taliban and civil society representatives have occurred intermittently, with no substantive policy changes emerging.
As the fifth anniversary passes, humanitarian workers describe a landscape where basic survival has become the primary concern for most women and girls. The immediate focus on securing food, shelter, and basic medical care has replaced the longer-term aspirations that animated much of Afghan civil society before 2021. Recovery of political and social freedoms remains distant for the majority of Afghanistan’s population.
