The Taliban jihadist terror organization held celebrations throughout Afghanistan on Friday to mark the four-year anniversary of its conquest of the country, flooding state propaganda outlets with images of young boys in Islamic garb celebrating, elaborate decorative bouquets, and calls to praise Allah for the Taliban’s continued stranglehold on power.
The Taliban ruled Afghanistan for much of the 1990s, but was overthrown in 2001 by an American invasion in response to the September 11, 2001, al-Qaeda attacks. The Taliban and al-Qaeda have maintained friendly ties for decades, even as Taliban leaders denied any relationship with terrorist organizations. Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri is believed to have lived for months in a luxury neighborhood of Kabul under the auspices of Taliban leaders before being eliminated in a U.S. airstrike in 2022.
The Taliban’s return to power was made possible by President Joe Biden breaking an agreement to withdraw American troops from the country by May 1, 2021, extending the already 20-year-old Afghan War. Biden followed the extension with an abrupt, messy withdrawal from the country that resulted in the deaths of 13 U.S. servicemembers in a suicide attack at the Kabul international airport along with the deaths of dozens of Afghans desperately attempting to flee the country at the time.
Taliban leaders continued to insist this week that the world, including the United States, should normalize relations with the “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan” to help it crush terrorist threats in the country.
“Some accuse Afghanistan of harboring international terrorists to serve their own political interests, but we remain committed to our obligations under the Doha Agreement,” Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani, a wanted terrorist and New York Times contributor, stated on Friday. The Doha Agreement was the deal between the U.S. government and the Taliban brokered during the first term of President Donald Trump that would have ended the Afghan War on May 1, 2021.
In a statement to mark the occasion on Friday, the Taliban regime claimed a litany of alleged successes since returning to power.
“After decades, nationwide security was established across the homeland, and the people were saved from corruption, oppression, usurpation, drugs, theft, looting, and plundering under the light of Sharia laws,” the jihadists claimed.
Taliban “supreme leader” Hibatullah Akhundzada used the anniversary statement to command that all Taliban leaders stop referring to themselves as “acting” officials — affirming the permanence of the tyranny — and to warn Afghans to adhere to the Taliban’s violent fundamentalist interpretation of Islam or face the wrath of the terrorists.
“My firm directive to all officials of the Islamic Emirate is to serve the Sharia system and Muslims,” Akhundzada declared, “strive for the welfare and comfort of the people, and all ministers and the cabinet of the Islamic Emirate should refrain from using the term ‘acting.’”
Taliban leaders published propaganda videos on social media on Thursday and Friday showcasing events to celebrate the conquest of the country. The events showcased large numbers of boys apparently receiving school supplies from the Taliban, young men celebrated for their contributions to the nation, elaborate military marching displays, and long speeches by jihadist elders. The podiums for speakers were adorned with large, colorful flower centerpieces.
The displays were a stark contrast to the celebrations in 2024, which emphasized the Taliban’s military might and humiliating the United States. Taliban jihadists staged a parade featuring stolen American military equipment, which Biden left in the country at the abandoned American Bagram Air Base. The jihadists invited representatives of the governments of China and Iran to attend.
The displays of victory last year stood in contrast to the tone towards the United States from Taliban leaders this year. Top Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid used the anniversary this week to call for the Trump administration to request that Washington consider normalizing relations with the jihadists and granting them access to the former Afghan embassy in Washington.
“We have requested official recognition from them and have also raised the issue of transferring the Afghan embassy in the United States to us,” he said in a recent interview. “Although we have not received a positive response, the people of Afghanistan want their rights.”
“We have periodic contacts with the United States,” he added. “Afghanistan has no problems with any country and seeks good relations with all nations.”
Elsewhere during the festivities on Friday, one event appeared to include a skit in which actors pretending to be drug addicts are violently apprehended by Taliban jihadists.
Radio Television of Afghanistan (RTA), now under the control of the Taliban, published videos of events on Thursday night featuring jihadists in tribal garb giving extended speeches to celebrate the imposition of Islamist rule. Unlike the minimalist image the Taliban has previously adhered to in its formal events, the nighttime event appeared deliberately colorful. The stage background was decorated with bright red, purple, and green traditional Afghan cloth patterns and bright lights.
Reports in English-language media quoted a Taliban official stating that the terrorists planned to celebrate by dropping flowers from military helicopters throughout Kabul, but Afghan media has not published any images of such a display online at press time.
As usual for the Taliban, no women appeared at any of its events.
The Taliban’s claim to improving the lives of Afghans failed to address the rampant poverty and political repression defining its rule, particularly against women. The United Nations published a report this week confirming, via eyewitness reports and other on-the-ground evidence, that the Taliban had almost completely succeeded in its goal of “erasing” the existence of women in the country entirely. Women are largely not allowed to leave their homes and, even indoors, banned from getting too close to windows or doors, lest men see them from outside.
“Hundreds of women have been violently arrested on the streets, in workplaces, and even their homes,” an Afghan women’s rights group, Purple Saturdays, told the independent Afghan newspaper Etilaatroz on Friday. “Dozens of women have been tortured, sexually abused and raped in prisons; many of them still live under constant threat and terror.”
The group accused the world of “normalizing” Taliban atrocities by engaging the regime, even if under the pretext of distributing humanitarian aid.
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