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This article is part of a Fox News Digital series examining the consequences of the U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan one year ago this week.

Decades of progress for Afghan women's rights rolled back in a matter of months. Widespread hunger and malnutrition exacerbated by an international freeze on aid. A draconian crackdown on any public expression that doesn't conform with a hard-line interpretation of Islam. Violent attacks that have rocked the capital of Kabul.

This is day-to-day life one year after the Taliban entered Kabul and took Afghanistan back following the withdrawal of U.S. troops last August.

Women and girls have been especially hard hit by the Taliban's rise to power. The country's new religious rulers have restricted women from working outside the home aside from a few sectors, banned girls from attending secondary school, ordered women to cover their faces in public, and implemented rules that limit a woman's ability to travel without a male chaperone.

Widespread hunger has also increased drastically amid a worsening economic crisis, with about half of Afghanistan's 38 million people experiencing acute food insecurity.

These two issues the revocation of women's rights and a cratering economy have compounded to create one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world right now, according to Phillipe Kropfe, a spokesperson who is based in Kabul for the United Nations World Food Program.

"After four decades of conflict, many households are led by widows, and they are the only breadwinner. Without the full participation of women and girls in all aspects of public life there is little chance of achieving lasting peace, stability and economic development," Kropfe told Fox News Digital.

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An Afghan man with a family of 12 people and lost his job at a local NGO last August said he has struggled to bring food home on a daily basis since the Taliban took over, but his more pressing concern is for the future of his daughters.

"My biggest worry right now is uncertain future of my children, especially girls," the man, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisal from the Taliban, told Fox News Digital. "My eldest daughter is in 7th class and whenever she asks me about when she will return to school it makes my heart full of pain because no one has the answer."

The Taliban's takeover last year is not the first time that women in Afghanistan have seen their hard-fought rights rolled back.

The 20th century saw steady progression of basic rights for women, but that came to an abrupt halt when the Taliban first rose to power in 1996; a rule that would continue until the United States and allies launched Operation Enduring Freedom in 2001.

"Women of Afghanistan were able to take advantage of the opportunities offered to them following the 2001 removal of the Taliban to continue their democratization efforts of the earlier decades, particularly during the 1970s and 1980s, which included extensive gender equality provisions, like womens greater access to higher education," Mona Tajali, a professor of international relations and women's studies at Agnes Scott college and an executive board member for Women Living Under Muslim Laws, told Fox News Digital.

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Women inside and outside of Afghanistan voiced their concerns when the Trump administration began negotiating with the Taliban in 2019 and 2020.

"Womens warnings, however, fell on deaf ears, and the Biden administration implemented the Trump administrations timeline of troops withdrawal, while neither administration had reached any safeguards on human rights, peace, security or even girls education," Tajali said.

"Many Afghan women activists and leaders feel betrayed by the U.S government, since addressing their rights served as a justification for the occupation in 2001 only to be fully ignored in 2021."

While women and other Afghans have protested for their rights over the last year, the Taliban has cracked down on freedom of expression with extrajudicial killings and detainment of activists.

The Taliban's Government Media and Information Center issued an order in September 2021 that prohibited journalists from publishing stories "contrary to Islam" or "insulting to national figures," leading to the arrest and torture of more than 80 journalists over the past year, according to a report this month by Amnesty International.

The Afghan father who expressed fear about the future of his children also said that his ability to discuss his country's challenges has been severely curtailed by the Taliban.

"I could talk and write about situation, problems and solutions of politics, economy and country. Now I am deprived of all [those] rights and privileges," he said. "The Taliban can arrest, torture and even kill me any moment for any reason or without a reason, and there is no one [asking] them why you arrest or kill a human being."

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Despite the daily challenges that women, girls and other Afghans face one year after the Taliban's takeover, the country is anything but a lost cause, according to Zuhra Bahman, the Afghanistan director for Search for Common Ground who is based in Kabul.

"There are women who work in ministries resisting from within, there are women marching for their rights, and most importantly, there are women who are leading humanitarian efforts and making a change in their community," Bahman told Fox News Digital.

Paul Best is a reporter for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to Paul.best@fox.com and on Twitter: @KincaidBest.

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Afghanistan one year later: How daily life in the war-torn country has changed since the Talibans takeover - Fox News

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

This article is part of a Fox News Digital series examining the consequences of the U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan one year ago this week.

When the Taliban swept across Afghanistan and caused the collapse of its Western-supported government last year, it declared itself the legitimate government of the country and promised to finally bring peace and security to the Afghan people.

However, a resistance movement is seeking to challenge Taliban rule, growing its opposition to the organization in the country's Panjshir Valley.

"There's something there there's potential there," Bill Roggio, the managing editor of Long War Journal, told Fox News. "They've done this in the past. You had the Northern Alliance previously, these are fervent anti-Taliban individuals."

Roggio's comments come as Afghanistan's National Resistance Front (NRF), a group made up of local volunteers and former Afghan military and police forces, have sought to grow their movement over the last year. Members of the organization were forced to regroup and reorganize themselves after the Afghan government collapsed and U.S. military forces departed, eventually gaining a stronghold in the historically anti-Taliban Panjshir Valley.

The remote region of Afghanistan was once home to the Northern Alliance, which waged a civil war against the Taliban after it took control of the country for the first time in 1996. After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the U.S., American and allied special operations forces linked up with Northern Alliance fighters to topple the Taliban government.

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National Resistance Front fighters pose for a picture. (National Resistance Front)

The leader of the new movement, Ahmad Massoud, has deep connections to the old Northern Alliance. Massoud's father, Ahmed Shah Massoud, was a revered leader of the former organization before he was assassinated by al Qaeda operatives two days before the terror attacks in the U.S.

Ali Maisam Nazary, the head of foreign relations for the NRF, told Fox News Digital that the younger Massoud has inspired the growing resistance, which he says continues to recruit new fighters who aim to one day retake Afghanistan.

"We started from two valleys," Nazary said. "Today, we are present in 12 provinces inside Afghanistan."

Nazary boasted that NRF forces have found success on the battlefield, claiming that during one battle NRF fighters captured 40 Taliban forces, while in other recent battles they killed 40 more.

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"We have been highly successful," Nazary said. "The Taliban haven't had any military victories ... they've shown their weaknesses and basically every single military option they've had they have exhausted."

A National Resistance Front fighter. (National Resistance Front)

Nazary said the Taliban has brought many forces into the region, including some of their most elite fighters, however, it has had little to no success rooting out the NRF. The NRF has had increased luck recruiting new fighters as a result of its success, Nazary said, helping grow its forces into something that they hope can one day mount an offensive capable of taking territory.

The narrative painted by Nazary stands in stark contrast to that of the Taliban, who have strongly denied that fighting has been happening in the region. Shortly after the last of the U.S. troops left Afghanistan, the Taliban fought with the remaining pockets of resistance in the Panjshir Valley, and it claims to now have full control of the security situation there.

Roggio said part of the challenge with tracking how strong the resistance truly is stems from a lack of reliable information, noting that the Taliban has been successful in keeping the fighting away from major cities and containing it to the country's most remote areas. There is also a lack of reporting from independent press, who depend on the Taliban to gain access to the area and are often only able to see what the Taliban wants them to see.

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National Resistance Front fighters in Afghanistan have launched attacks against the Taliban. (National Resistance Front)

According to a Washington Post report in June, locals in the contested valleys have cast at least some doubt on the Taliban's narrative. Reports of heavy fighting and casualties have spread from village to village, while civilian casualties have also increased as a result of the fighting.

Roggio said the truth likely rests somewhere between the competing narratives, arguing that the NRF represents a threat to the Taliban but the Taliban still maintains the upper hand in terms of areas it controls and equipment it possesses.

"They obviously are not merely a nuisance," Roggio said of the NRF.

Roggio noted that the NRF campaign is mostly dependent on guerrilla tactics currently, and a growing movement could help them take control of contested areas with strong anti-Taliban sentiment. However, for the organization to be truly successful in its long-term objectives, it would need some sort of support, most likely from countries friendly to its cause.

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Nazary spends much of his time lobbying for international support, basing himself out of Washington D.C., and Tajikistan in an attempt to sell the NRF as a legitimate challenger to Taliban rule, he told Fox News Digital. He paints the fight as a continuation of the U.S. and allied war on terror, pointing out that NRF forces have also engaged in fighting against terrorist organizations such as al Qaeda and the Islamic State.

National Resistance Front fighters scale a mountain. (National Resistance Front)

"We don't characterize the current resistance as a civil war," Nazary said. "This is the continuation of the global war on terror. However, our allies abandoned the struggle more than a year ago, and we're all alone fighting international terrorists."

However, finding support from the international community for a renewed fight against terrorism in Afghanistan has proved difficult, with Western governments showing little interest in supporting an armed uprising against the Taliban.

That reality was made more clear in July when the U.S. State Department said it does "not support organized violent opposition" to the Taliban. Instead, the U.S. is calling for the various factions in Afghanistan to settle their differences diplomatically.

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National Resistance Front rebels have been launching attacks against the Taliban in the Panjshir valley. (National Resistance Front)

The State Department's position only served to enhance the NRF's feeling of abandonment after the U.S. ended its time in Afghanistan, Nazary said. He pointed out that a little more than one year ago the U.S. government supported the Afghan military in its fight to resist a Taliban takeover of the country.

"They were funding these forces, they were supporting these forces," Nazary said. "All of a sudden, the policy has changed 180 degrees. How was it legitimate when NATO had a presence in Afghanistan, but it's illegitimate today?"

"As far as I can tell that's official U.S. policy, which I think is insane, but here we are," Roggio said of the State Department's position.

However, Roggio believes the NRF could represent a legitimate threat to Taliban rule, especially if the organization eventually does find a sympathetic ear from the international community. He noted, however, that the group has a long road ahead and will face significant difficulty in achieving its objectives.

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"It's hard to judge how successful they'll be," he said. "They look to be viable."

Nazary struck an optimistic tone, noting that the resistance to Taliban rule is only in the first phase. He argued that the NRF will continue to grow its capability, saying the leadership will be deliberate with their planning ahead of moving into an offensive phase.

"Right now, it's easy for us to take over districts especially in the north," Nazary said. "But taking a district is much different from sustaining control over it. So, we want to guarantee that once we start taking districts we'll be able to sustain control."

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Nazary said the NRF is moving slowly toward that goal, and it is not yet ready to move into a new phase of the war. He did, however, express confidence in the group's ability to reach that point.

"We are determined to continue, and we are convinced that the days of Taliban occupation in the north are numbered," he said.

Michael Lee is a writer at Fox News. Follow him on Twitter @UAMichaelLee

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How significant is resistance to the Taliban in Afghanistan? - Fox News

Nick Schifrin:

It has been one year since the Taliban took over Afghanistan amid the Afghan government collapse and the chaotic U.S. withdrawal.

To get some perspective on what happened and why, we turn to Ashraf Ghani, the former president of Afghanistan.

Mr. President, thank you very much. Welcome back to the "NewsHour."

Let's start with your departure from Kabul.

Last May, on this program, you said: "I will not abandon my people. I will not abandon my forces. I'm willing to die for my country."

But, three months later, on August 15, you left Kabul. And you recently said you left because you didn't want to give the Taliban quote "the pleasure of humiliating an Afghan president."

Was avoiding humiliation worth abandoning the country?

Ashraf Ghani, Former President of Afghanistan: I firmly committed to defending my people, our own forces in the public to the last minute I could.

I left as the last person in the chain of command because our forces could no longer sustain. I had no one to fight with me. It was not a situation where sacrificing myself would have saved the republic.

On the contrary, it would have created another trauma. And we have had enough of trauma in our history.

Read the original here:
Afghanistan's former president on the Taliban takeover - PBS NewsHour

I will bear hunger and face all difficulties of life, but I hope my children have a bright future, become educated and live less painful lives, she says.

Yet, under Taliban rule, that hope is becoming increasingly unlikely. Of her four daughters, two were educated to sixth grade around age 11 the others only to fourth grade.

Girls' schools remain closed for grades seven to 12 in most parts of the country as progress made for womens rights under the previous government has halted. Her sons, however, attend a private school, funded by scholarships for children who have lost a parent: their father died nine years ago after being shot by the Taliban.

"I dont have a breadwinner and no source of income now, she explains. Two of my sons eke out a small living collecting cans and plastic bottles in the village. They both make roughly around half a dollar if they scavenge enough recyclables.

The Taliban, which previously ruled the country from 1996, was ousted by US troops in 2001. However, when the US-led allies completed their withdrawal from Afghanistan in August last year, the group quickly moved in. The countrys then president and his cabinet fled and citizens flooded the airport, desperate to leave. In this second claim on power, the Taliban took in control of all of Afghanistan - something they had not managed to do previously.

Some of those now in charge of the country are still classified by the US as terrorists and sanctions against them have stopped almost all foreign investment. The international community has also frozen around $10 billion of Afghanistans assets, until the Taliban gives assurances on security, governance and human rights, including allowing all girls to be educated. Under the current leadership, most women cannot work if they do, they are required to take a male chaperone, which is, in practice, impossible - and cannot go on long-distance journeys without a male chaperone. Although they are not required to wear the burka at all times, they do have to cover their faces in public.

Aid organisations have warned that the country is in crisis and conditions are getting worse, due to a combination of factors, but also a series of natural disasters, which has hit struggling communities hard.

Global humanitarian agencies have provided assistance, but struggle with access and funding in their battle to avoid a humanitarian disaster. Around 20 people were killed in floods this week, coming after droughts and an earthquake earlier this year which killed 1,000. The Taliban has taken the unusual step of asking the international community for help.

Estimates from the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, show around nine million people in Afghanistan are at risk of famine, while over 20 million people half of the 40 million population - face extreme levels of hunger.

Bibis family struggle to find enough to eat, surviving on a limited diet of bread and tea, vegetables, okra, and a mix of fried onion and water known as piyawa. She was forced to sell her dairy cow - the familys only source of income as she could not afford basic food for her children.

"I also sometimes get help from the village chief and my in-laws, she says. My children would never survive without their help. Weve never been able to afford meat, beans and fruits. Many villagers are poor and neighbours cant reach out to us.

If my son could be taken to a foreign country like Germany, it would help the rest of us. I myself harbour no hopes of living outside Afghanistan. I just dream of having a safe living room for all of us.

Mostaqim, 53, does not receive local help to feed his four daughters and teenage son as he belongs to a tribe in a separate village, but lives in a home passed down to him from his grandfather.

"[The village chief] only distributes donations among his relatives as he has full control over who receives aid, he says. It seems that I can never get support in this village.

Mostaqim has been unable to work since being injured in a suicide bombing attack in Rodat district seven years ago. He says he was in hospital for years and still receives treatment and has undergone multiple surgeries for his injuries.

He says: "Before Taliban last year, when I still couldnt work, friends and family used to help us by giving us food items like flour, cooking oil and rice. But now, none of them can help us, because they themselves grapple with economic difficulties after Taliban seized Afghanistan. Since August last year, I am barely able to afford the cheapest food. My malnourished children are mostly hungry.

Aid organisations have called for sanctions against the Taliban to be lifted, saying they are harming ordinary people in the country.

Christian Aids head of global advocacy and policy, Fionna Smyth, said: "A year on we have no illusions about the Taliban rulers but the Afghan people cannot be abandoned to their fate. They did not vote for the Taliban and, even if the Taliban control the country, that must not stop us trying to help people make a living and give them hope for a future free from hunger.Christian Aid is already delivering humanitarian assistance but no NGO can do the job of the Government. Conditions are becoming even more desperate due to the impact of climate change, a global pandemic and soaring food and fuel costs due to the war in Ukraine. Those needs are going to grow as summer ends and we approach the winter months.She added: That is why the international community needs to do far more to support the economy to get back on its feet, get the central bank going again and also advocate for the rights of women and girls, who are being erased from public life."

Subrata, country manager for the charity, which is known as CAID in Afghanistan, can only be identified by his first name for fear of retribution from the Taliban. He warns the country is heading towards a major humanitarian disaster.

He points to stories such as that of Bibi and her family.

These stories are basically a depiction of the ground level situation, he says. Situations which generally are not allowed to be presented in front of an international audience. These are realities. The life [of women] is becoming much more tough, much more narrow, and the options of getting out of that kind of poverty becoming even less.

"Women who do not have men will always be economically incompetent because of the system and now the humanitarian response is also being compromised by Taliban authorities.

He adds: It would be wrong of me to say that before the Taliban, Afghan ladies lived like women in a Western society. In the name of religion and culture, they had to follow a lot of restrictions which men did not have, but after last August, those restrictions were legalised and put into statute and when you do that, the situation on the ground becomes even more tight.

The Scottish Government has committed just over 600,000 in humanitarian funding for Afghanistan through different channels. This was split between the DEC (Disasters Emergency Committee), Christian Aid & Islamic Relief a joint project funding emergency food parcels and hygiene kits in Nangarhar Province - and Tearfund, for emergency food parcels and winter blankets.

Subrata calls for the international community to ease sanctions to help ordinary Afghan people and also to ensure that the humanitarian disaster is not forgotten as the world turns its attention to the Ukraine invasion.

He says: The international community should work out some mechanism to bring the Afghan economy back on track. The banking system has to be open otherwise, this humanitarian work which we are doing is a life saving activity, it is not a development activity.

He adds: Here also, people are in very, very bad situations, but the international community are not getting to know, because of the [Taliban] media ban. The international community should not forget Afghanistan.

Original post:
'The international community should not forget Afghanistan': aid workers appeal to the world as the country heads towards humanitarian disaster - The...

Photographer Omer Khan in front of a Russian tank in Kabul.

(Courtesy of Omer Khan)

On Aug. 24, 2021, Omer Khan, a freelance photographer from Kabul, Afghanistan, grabbed his camera and a few other belongings as he escaped his homeland with his wife, son, and brother, nine days after the Taliban entered Kabul and took control of the capital.

Khan is among the more than 80,000 refugees who were able to evacuate Afghanistan. He navigated chaos and danger at the Kabul airport before making his way onto a crammed U.S. military flight, with the United States as the final destination.

One year later, Khan who has created a new life for himself and his family in El Cajon reflects on what he left behind in Afghanistan and what he hopes for his future in the U.S.

We lost everything. We lost our [identity], home, our life.

Afghan National Army soldiers in Kabul, 2021.

(Courtesy of Omer Khan)

A view of Kabul, a sprawling city of almost 6 million people, 2020.

(Courtesy of Omer Khan)

A man sells balloons in Kabul, 2021.

(Courtesy of Omer Khan)

Khans passion for photography started in 2014, when he enrolled in a journalism program at a private university in Kabul. He worked as a photographer for television stations and NGOs and rented a gallery space with his brother at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, where he sold his photos and Afghan handicrafts.

Khan ventured to all corners of Afghanistan to document the people and landscapes of his country. Two years before fleeing, he published about 250 copies of a photo book titled Hidden Treasure so he could show the positive side of Afghanistan, the unseen face of Afghanistan, to the world.

He was able to bring only one copy on his flight out of Afghanistan.

Omer Khan goes through his photo book, Hidden Treasure on August 22, 2022. It was the only copy he was able to bring with him when he evacuated from Afghanistan. Here, Khan looks at his photos taken in 2018 of Buzkashi, Afghanistans national sport that was banned by the Taliban from 1996-2001.

(Valerie Plesch / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)

On August 15, as news spread that the Taliban had taken over Kabul , Khan was at his gallery. His wife, Hasiba, called and told him to come home.

No one could believe that the Taliban would take over Afghanistan again, he said.

Because of his affiliation with the embassy, Khan knew he couldnt stay in Afghanistan. The Taliban was already hunting Afghans who had worked with Americans.

His employer at the embassy told him to expect a signal when it was time to be evacuated.

After waiting for nine days and hearing nothing, Khan decided to head to the airport with his wife, son, and brother.

The move paid off. Khan caught a U.S. military relief flight on August 25.

He left behind his father, mother, sister and brother.

Before evacuating, Khan documented the immediate aftermath of the Taliban takeover, including images of women at a Kabul beauty salon that were defaced. It was the last set of photos he took in Afghanistan.

Left: Omer Khan with his son Umair aboard a U.S. military plane bound for Qatar after evacuating from Afghanistan on August 25, 2021. Right: Images of women from a beauty parlor salon in Kabul that were defaced by the Taliban on August 15, 2021, the day they took control of the capital.

(Courtesy of Omer Khan)

After spending three months at Camp Atterbury in Indiana, which housed thousands of Afghan evacuees, Khan and his family settled in El Cajon.

With the help of Jewish Family Services, a resettlement agency working with Afghan refugees, Khan found a one-bedroom apartment in January thats close to work, as well as markets selling traditional Afghan food..

Omer Khan with his son Umair and wife Hasiba outside their apartment complex in El Cajon on August 22, 2022. A resettlement agency helped Khan find his apartment shortly after he and his family arrived in San Diego, and after spending three months at an army base in Indiana that housed Afghan refugees following the fall of Kabul.

(Valerie Plesch / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)

Khan also found work at Subway as a Sandwich Artist, which is how Subway describes its workers who prepare sandwiches. He and his older brother send about $400 every month to his family back home. Under Taliban rule, Afghanistans economy has plummeted, and families are struggling to keep afloat.

He hopes to work again as a photographer in San Diego.

Here life is very different than in Afghanistan, he said. But Im happy now being here. Life is good.

Omer Khan cleans up at the end of his shift at Subway on August 21, 2022 in El Cajon. He works as a sandwich artist and sends part of his salary to his family in Kabul.

(Valerie Plesch / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)

Khan and his family arrived in the U.S. on humanitarian parole, which allows them to live and work for two years. He and tens of thousands of other Afghan refugees who evacuated do not have a clear path to stay in the country.

The Biden administration has asked Congress to pass the Afghan Adjustment Act, which would streamline the process for visa candidates who worked for the U.S government and allow Afghans to get legal status in the U.S.

Khan is currently seeking asylum so he can stay in the country.

Omer Khan drinks tea and eats nuts with his son Umair and wife Hasbia after coming home from work on August 21, 2022 in El Cajon.

(Valerie Plesch / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)

During his free time, Khan goes through the three hard drives that he was able to bring with him from Afghanistan, searching for photos that he didnt publish yet on his Instagram or Facebook.

A man on his horse that people can pay to ride at Qargha Lake on the outskirts of Kabul, 2020.

(Courtesy of Omer Khan)

A man sells birds at the Ka Faroshi Bird Market in Kabul, 2021.

(Courtesy of Omer Khan)

The landscape in Samangan province, central Afghanistan, 2020.

(Courtesy of Omer Khan)

Buzkashi, Afghanistans national sport that was banned by the Taliban from 1996-2001, in the Paryan district of Panjshir province, 2018.

(Courtesy of Omer Khan)

A man sells fish on the side of the Kabul-Jalalabad Highway, 2020.

(Courtesy of Omer Khan)

A woman in a burqa walks through the Mandawai market, one of Kabuls biggest and most crowded markets, 2021.

(Courtesy of Omer Khan)

On his Instagram, he continues to post photos of his homeland, along with new photos and videos from San Diego. Khan loves exploring and photographing the region, particularly the architecture of downtown and the beach in La Jolla.

La Jolla beach at sunset, November 2021.

(Courtesy of Omer Khan)

One year after escaping Afghanistan, Khan still has trouble seeing pictures from home.

Its like a dream, everything changed in one night, he said.

Khan remembers thinking about his sons future as he fled Afghanistan.

This will be good for him. I spent all of my childhood in war. It is good for him to spend his life and be raised in a good situation and good area.

San Diego is my home. There is no more life in Afghanistan

Omer Khan photographs surfers in La Jolla on August 22, 2022. Khan enjoys photographing the beach at the La Jolla at sunset. Whenever I come to the beach, when I hear the sound of the ocean, and the waves, it makes me feel comfortable. Just walking from one side of the ocean to the other side of the ocean, taking pictures, it makes me feel more comfortable. When the sun goes down, then I go back home.

(Valerie Plesch / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)

This story was produced with the support of the Pulitzer Center.

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