Afghanistan marks 5 years under the Taliban with safer streets but pleas for jobs and education

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — As Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers mark five years since sweeping back to power, some Kabul residents say they feel safer after decades of conflict and upheaval but stress the leaders should now focus on creating jobs and expanding access to schools in the country where girls above the age of 12 are banned from education.

The Taliban regained control of Afghanistan on Aug. 15, 2021, after it launched an offensive as the U.S. and other NATO troops withdrew from the country after two decades of war. The withdrawal led to chaotic scenes at and around Kabul’s airport with thousands wanting to leave.

“Thank God, the past five years have passed in safety,” said Mohammad Qasim, 30, reflecting on the anniversary that comes against a backdrop of economic hardship in a conflict-stricken country. “Our wish and hope from the government is to create job opportunities for the youth.”

“We, along with the entire nation, call upon the government to create employment opportunities for the youth and to encourage them to pursue education,” he added.

Before the takeover, the Taliban stated that, upon assuming power, it would allow women access to education, employment and public participation, albeit in accordance with its interpretation of Islamic principles.

Soon after it seized power, the Taliban imposed an indefinite ban on girls’ education beyond the sixth grade and, a few months later, also banned higher education for women until “further notice.”

Women also were banned from entering gyms, parks and public baths, from taking part in sports and traveling to distant locations without a “mahram,” or male guardian.

Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid has repeatedly said the administration is working to establish conditions under which girls and women can attend classrooms or university campuses in line with Islamic Sharia laws. The restrictions, nevertheless, remain in force.

While the United Nations has acknowledged that the country has become more stable since the takeover, it has warned that lasting stability cannot be possible unless the Taliban rulers — who remain isolated internationally — lift restrictions on women and girls, protect basic rights and address terrorism concerns.

“A reduction in conflict has brought tangible benefits for many Afghans and created opportunities to focus on recovery, development and regional economic cooperation,” the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, or UNAMA, said in a statement ahead of the anniversary. It added, however, that the restrictions on women and girls impede Afghanistan’s recovery and its reintegration with the international community.

In a statement this week, the U.N.'s agency on women’s rights said Afghan women and girls are living under the world’s most severe restrictions, which not only violate their rights but also threaten the country’s social and economic future.

“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,” U.N. Women said.

“In the past year alone, this exclusion of women and girls from education, employment, public life, justice systems and healthcare has only intensified, entrenching what remains the world’s most severe women’s rights crisis,” it said.

Fazila Soroush, a 39-year-old Kabul-based entrepreneur and an advocate for women’s rights, said the government had “demonstrated its worth to the people through its actions in every area.”

“We consider it essential that the officials of the Islamic Emirate who had announced the closure of schools and universities until further notice, now make a clear and practical decision regarding this matter,” she said.

In the streets of Kabul, preparations for the anniversary celebrations were underway. Vendors sold the Taliban’s white with black scripted flags while painters were busy writing slogans in praise of Islamic laws on walls, including: “The Islamic system has been achieved at the cost of the martyrs’ blood” and “Our commitment stands firm: Consolidation and implementation of Islamic Sharia.”

Molvi Hayatullah Mahajar Farahi, deputy minister in the Taliban government for broadcasting at the Ministry of Information and Culture, said in the five years the administration has delivered security, stabilized the currency, improved infrastructure and formed industrial parks that have created jobs.

“Naturally, challenges and difficulties exist, yet we can highlight several accomplishments,” Farahi told The Associated Press.

Farahi, when asked, did not address the issue of the education of girls and women but said “the level of investment made in universities surpasses anything seen in the past.

“The Emirate continues its efforts to further organize and improve services for our citizens in the fields of education and other sectors,” he stated.

The deputy minister rejected a U.N. report that documented terrorist networks in Afghanistan, saying “these are merely enemy propaganda, spread to portray the country as unstable.”

Asked to comment about its international isolation, Farahi insisted the Taliban government was engaged with some 40 countries. The Taliban government currently is only formally recognized by Russia.

“The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has fulfilled all the requirements necessary for official recognition. It is now up to the international community and others to step forward and take the appropriate action,” he said.

The bans have left an estimated 2.4 million girls excluded from secondary education, UNESCO, the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, said this week — a 200,000 increase from last year. The restrictions have reversed two decades of progress that Afghanistan had made in education, the agency said.

Pointing at a broader educational crisis, the agency said 53% of primary school-aged children are out of school. Schools lack basic infrastructure such as water, sanitation or heating, while natural disasters have also led to hundreds of school closures.

Meanwhile, the U.N. World Food Program said child malnutrition has reached critical levels in a third of Afghanistan’s provinces and is expected to worsen as funding shortfalls force cuts in food distributions and other support.

Speaking Friday from Kabul, the special representative for the U.N. women's agency Sarah Ferguson urged donors not to abandon Afghan women and girls, saying the agency is getting only a quarter of what it needs. She said more than half the 74 women's organizations surveyed in April in Afghanistan said they were close to suspending or halting work because of aid cuts.

In Kabul, Dost Mohammad Khan expressed support for the Taliban administration, saying the past five years have brought stability. He said, however, that the country needs trained professionals such as doctors and engineers, urging the authorities to keep “all sectors operational.”

“We also call upon the Islamic Emirate to permit women to attend school under the sharia dress code and we urge the public to heed the directives of the Emirate also,” said the 38-year-old.

Fraser reported from Ankara, Turkey.

A Taliban security officer searches a man at a checkpoint ahead of celebrations marking the fifth anniversary of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and the start of Taliban rule, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Siddiqullah Alizai)

A Taliban security officer searches a man at a checkpoint ahead of celebrations marking the fifth anniversary of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and the start of Taliban rule, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Siddiqullah Alizai)

Workers paint a mural celebrating the Taliban's victory and the defeat of the U.S.-led occupation ahead of celebrations marking five years of Taliban rule, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Siddiqullah Alizai)

A Taliban security officer checks a driver's identification at a checkpoint ahead of celebrations marking the fifth anniversary of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and the start of Taliban rule, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Siddiqullah Alizai)

A man offers Taliban flags for sale ahead of celebrations marking the fifth anniversary of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and the start of Taliban rule, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Siddiqullah Alizai)

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A predominantly Muslim region in the southern Philippines held its first elections for a regional parliament Monday and Tuesday following years of delays, moving it closer to self-rule after decades of insurgency and violence.

Officials said turnout was over 80%, even as five people were killed in election-related violence in the regional capital and polling was extended to a second day in some precincts over a suspected effort to cheat.

More than 20,000 soldiers and police officers were deployed to provide security for the election.

Voters are choosing the 80 members of a regional parliament, who will in turn elect a chief minister in their first session. The winners are expected to be announced by the end of Tuesday.

Authorities extended voting for a second day in 36 out of 86 precincts in Maluso town on Basilan island after finding pre-filled-out ballots. New ballots for 16,000 affected voters were printed and delivered late Monday and polls will remain open for them until 7 p.m. on Tuesday.

Commission on Elections Chairman Erwin Garcia celebrated the high turnout and said those behind the attempted cheating will be charged with election sabotage.

“The elections stand on generations of Bangsamoro struggle for homeland, identity, and self-determination, in the face of dispossession, marginalization, conflict and sacrifice,” Garcia said in an earlier statement

The Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao was established under a 2014 peace deal, replacing an older autonomous region with a larger, better-funded and more powerful area. The new region has been run by an appointed transitional government made up of former guerrilla leaders since its creation.

The largest Muslim rebel group — the Moro Islamic Liberation Front — gave up its pursuit of independence from the largely Roman Catholic country in exchange for broader autonomy and the group’s 40,000 fighters promised to demobilize and join civilian life.

The region covers five provinces, plus three cities and 63 additional villages, and is home to nearly 2.4 million voters.

Since the 1970s, about 150,000 combatants and civilians have died in the southern Philippines, while development was stunted in the country’s poorest region. With bombing attacks and kidnappings, Mindanao was viewed as a haven for al-Qaida and the Islamic State group until a U.S.-backed Philippine offensive weakened the militants.

In May 2017, IS-linked militants laid siege to the city of Marawi, triggering five months of ground assaults and airstrikes that left more than 1,100 people, mostly militants, dead and destroyed the mosque-studded city’s commercial and residential districts.

“Whoever wins, hopefully we will see change,” said Sittie Ashuya L. H. Omar, a 22-year-old voter from the city of Marawi. “Hopefully they can implement their promises."

A man attacks a vehicle from an opposing group outside a school used as a polling center during the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao parliamentary elections in Cotabato city, southern Philippines, Monday, Sept. 14, 2026. (AP Photo)

A Muslim woman votes at the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao parliamentary elections at a school in Lanao del Sur province, southern Philippines, Monday, Sept. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Richel V.Umel)

An armored personnel carrier stays at a checkpoint during the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao parliamentary elections at a school in Saguiaran, Lanao del Sur province, southern Philippines, Monday, Sept. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Richel V.Umel)

A Muslim woman voter shows the indelible ink on her fingers after voting the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao parliamentary elections at a school in Lanao del Sur province, southern Philippines, Monday, Sept. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Richel V.Umel)

A group attacks a vehicle from an opposing group outside a school used as a polling center during the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao parliamentary elections in Cotabato city, southern Philippines, Monday, Sept. 14, 2026. (AP Photo)