They promised Afghan women freedom, delivered bans: Inside five years of Taliban rule

The Taliban is an Islamist political and military movement that ruled Afghanistan before returning to power in 2021. Its return means the group reestablished control of the national government after nearly 20 years of US and Nato military presence.

The takeover followed a rapid offensive as foreign forces withdrew. The Taliban captured provincial capitals, entered Kabul on August 15, and took control after President Ashraf Ghani fled. The US completed its withdrawal on August 30, 2021.

The change mattered because the Taliban then controlled laws, schools, employment and public life. It initially promised women could study, work and participate in society under its interpretation of Islamic law. Instead, girls were denied secondary education, women were barred from universities, and restrictions expanded to employment, movement, healthcare and public conduct.

The article gives a precise figure for one part of the crisis: more than 2.6 million adolescent girls have been denied secondary education since 2021. Women are also barred from universities, while restrictions affect employment, movement, healthcare and public participation.

The scale is wider than that single number. The article reports that 53 per cent of Afghanistan's primary school-age children are outside formal education. It also says women cannot work for national or international NGOs or the United Nations, and that more than half of surveyed women leave home only once or twice monthly.

The article does not provide one combined total for all women and girls excluded from education, work or public life. That matters because education bans, job restrictions and movement controls overlap, making a simple total misleading. The available figures still show a nationwide crisis.

In August 2021, Taliban spokesmen promised that women could work, study through university and participate in society, provided they followed the group's interpretation of Islamic law. They also promised non-discrimination and continued women's employment.

The policy that followed moved in the opposite direction. When secondary schools reopened in September 2021, boys returned while most girls stayed home. On March 23, 2022, the Taliban cancelled the planned reopening for girls, effectively ending formal education beyond Grade 6. In December, women were barred from universities and NGO work.

The restrictions later widened. In April 2023, the employment ban reached Afghan women working for the United Nations. The result was a sharp gap between public assurances and actual policy, with rules limiting education, employment, movement, healthcare access and participation in public life.

The Doha Agreement created the formal pathway for the US military withdrawal. Signed in February 2020 between the Trump administration and the Taliban, it linked Washington's commitment to withdraw forces with Taliban security commitments and a pledge to join intra-Afghan negotiations.

The withdrawal changed the military situation on the ground. As US and Nato forces left after nearly 20 years in Afghanistan, the Taliban launched a rapid offensive. It captured provincial capitals one after another, then entered Kabul on August 15, 2021, as President Ashraf Ghani fled. The US completed its withdrawal on August 30.

The agreement did not itself transfer power to the Taliban, but the sequence described in the article created the conditions for its advance. Foreign forces were departing while the Taliban expanded territorially. The collapse of the previous government enabled the group to reestablish control.

Keeping girls out of school weakens the education system twice: it excludes a generation of learners and reduces the country's future pool of teachers, professionals and workers. The report found that fewer than half of assessed Grade 4 students reached minimum language proficiency, and only one in four met the corresponding mathematics level.

Healthcare is affected directly when women cannot study, work or move freely. The article reports shortages of female health workers, restrictions on women's health-sector employment and movement limits. These barriers make medical services harder to reach, while Afghanistan's maternal mortality rate reached 638 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2024.

The source does not provide an economic measurement. However, excluding women from education and employment reduces participation in the workforce and limits skills development, which generally weakens long-term economic capacity. Continued restrictions therefore threaten education quality, healthcare access and Afghanistan's future development.

The article does not describe alternative education programmes, so any response must be drawn from established education practice rather than its specific reporting. The goal is to keep girls learning safely while formal secondary schools remain closed.

Families and communities can organize small home-based or community classes, use printed lessons, and share trained female teachers. Radio lessons can reach households without internet. Where safe and available, phones, offline learning materials and supervised digital classes can support continuity. International organizations can fund teachers, devices, connectivity, learning materials and child-protection systems.

These alternatives cannot fully replace recognized schools, trained staff, exams or university pathways. They can, however, reduce learning loss and preserve skills until formal access returns. Programs should be confidential where necessary, locally trusted, accessible to poorer families and designed around safety, since the article reports severe restrictions on women's movement and public life.

Equal access to education gives girls and boys the skills needed for further study, employment and participation in society. Equal employment access allows a country to use more of its talent and maintain essential services. These benefits matter especially in Afghanistan, where education quality is already deteriorating.

The report found that fewer than half of assessed Grade 4 students reached minimum language proficiency at Grade 3 level, and only one in four reached the mathematics benchmark. In healthcare, restrictions on women's work and movement have contributed to shortages of female health workers and harder access to services. Maternal mortality was estimated at 638 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2024.

The article links restrictions to education and healthcare harms but does not quantify wider economic effects. In general, excluding half the population from learning and work limits skills, household incomes, public services and long-term recovery. Equal access therefore supports both development and public health.