Five Years of Taliban Rule: Security Gains Amid Deepening Poverty and Women’s Restrictions

In August 2021 the Taliban seized Afghanistan and, five years later, a Russian researcher documented the country’s transformation. Checkpoints along the Herat-Kandahar corridor are now routine, and long-distance travel is considered safe, reflecting the regime’s successful fight against ISIS-K, which still fields about 2,000 militants. The Taliban’s aggressive anti-opium campaign has shrunk cultivated poppy area by roughly 95 %, but the policy has devastated incomes, pushing unemployment to at least 75 % and pushing more than 70 % of the population onto humanitarian aid.

Women are prohibited from schooling beyond the sixth grade, barred from most workplaces and public venues, and face rising mental-health crises. Ethnic minorities such as Tajiks, Uzbeks and Hazaras claim unequal treatment, while the country’s terrorism ranking slipped to 11th worldwide. Russia remains the sole nation to officially recognize the Taliban government, a factor the regime cites as crucial for its international standing.