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Afghanistan Marks Five Years of Taliban Rule Amid Humanitarian Crisis and Diplomatic Tensions

17 sources across 12 countries · 1 of them is linked to a state

Who reported this

  • UOL Brazil · Centre-left · Grupo Folha
  • CNN Brasil Brazil · Centre · Rubens Menin (MRV)
  • Folha de S.Paulo Brazil · Centre · Grupo Folha (Frias family)
  • Der Spiegel Germany · Centre-left · ~50% staff-owned
  • Deutsche Welle Germany · Centre · Public · German federal public-law corporation
  • Frankfurter Allgemeine Germany · Centre-right · FAZIT-Stiftung (foundation)
  • Zeteo United States · Left · Mehdi Hasan (journalist-owned)
  • Al-Monitor United States · Centre · Jamal Daniel
  • Infobae Argentina · Centre-right · Daniel Hadad
  • La Tercera Chile · Centre-right · Copesa (Saieh family)
  • France 24 France · Centre · Public · France Medias Monde (French state holding)
  • The Times of Israel Israel · Centre · Seth Klarman (majority backer)
  • ANSA Italy · Centre · Publisher cooperative
  • Novaya Gazeta Europe Latvia · Centre-left · Crowdfunded; exiled Russian newsroom
  • Dawn Pakistan · Centre-left · Pakistan Herald Publications (Haroon family)
  • Al Jazeera Qatar · Centre-left · State-affiliated · Qatari government funded
  • The Guardian United Kingdom · Centre-left · Scott Trust Limited

What the colours mean

  • Left
  • Centre-left
  • Centre
  • Centre-right
  • Right
  • A hatched block means the outlet is affiliated with, or controlled by, a state.

Political lean describes where an outlet sits within the politics of its own country. It is never a position on a single global scale.

Political lean is comparable inside one country and not across them, which is why the bar groups by country first. Publicly funded broadcasters are not marked as state-linked.

The owner of each outlet is listed as a matter of record, not as a judgement about the outlet.

The Taliban celebrated the fifth anniversary of their return to power on Saturday with parades and official ceremonies in Kabul and other provinces. While Taliban officials touted the achievement of stability and the end of decades of war, international organizations and human rights groups warned of a deepening humanitarian and rights crisis. The United Nations and other observers have described the current state of women's rights in Afghanistan as gender apartheid. Girls over the age of 12 are barred from secondary education, and women are excluded from universities and most professions. Reports indicate that women face severe restrictions on movement, including requirements to be accompanied by a male guardian and mandates to cover their faces in public.

Humanitarian conditions have deteriorated as international aid has been reduced. The International Rescue Committee and the UN report that millions of Afghans face acute food insecurity, exacerbated by natural disasters and the deportation of Afghans from Pakistan and Iran. In response to these conditions, some activists have organized underground schools to provide education to girls in secret.

Diplomatically, the Taliban government remains largely unrecognized, although Russia has formally recognized the regime and established a security and trade partnership. Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi recently invited the United States to reopen its embassy and invest in the country's mineral wealth, provided there is no foreign military presence. The U.S. Department of State rejected this proposal, citing the Taliban's failure to combat terrorism and their record on human rights. Tensions also persist regarding the return of abandoned U.S. military equipment and the release of American prisoners.

In Europe, the legacy of the 2021 withdrawal continues to cause friction. Reports from Germany highlight the plight of Afghan allies who remain stranded in third countries or face difficult integration processes. Some former allies have expressed frustration over broken promises of resettlement, while the current German government has moved toward cooperating with the Taliban on the deportation of criminals.

How each side framed it

Left
This outlet framed the event as a forgotten tragedy and a failure of U.S. accountability toward Afghan allies.
Centre-left
These outlets emphasized the humanitarian suffering, the struggle of underground education, and the failure of Western promises to allies.
Centre
These outlets focused on the systemic nature of the rights crisis and the specific legal decrees restricting women.
Centre-right
These outlets highlighted the Taliban's claims of sovereignty and stability while noting the collapse of previous democratic progress.

Sources

100% of the statements in this article were traced back to the source articles listed above.