How 'safe' is Afghanistan under the Taliban? – DW – 06/11/2025

DW

2 days ago

The Islamist militant group ruling Afghanistan has claimed the country is secure. But ordinary Afghans say hunger, poverty and fear are everyday realities.
The Taliban are calling on all Afghans who have fled the country to return, claiming Afghanistan is safe.
Mohammad Hassan Akhund, the chairman of the Taliban government's Council of Ministers, promised a general amnesty to returnees in his message on Saturday to mark the Islamic festival of Eid al-Adha.
"The perpetrators of the violence are now in power, for example, as head of the Ministry of the Interior. Of course, they now claim that the country is safe," Nilofar Ibrahimi, a former member of Afghanistan's parliament before the Taliban takeover, told DW.
Sirajuddin Haqqani serves as the Taliban's interior minister. Haqqani is believed to be responsible for numerous deadly attacks in Afghanistan up until the Taliban takeover of the country in 2021.
He is on the FBI's Most Wanted List on suspicion of "coordinating and supporting cross-border attacks against United States and coalition forces in Afghanistan."
Haqqani now plays a key role in the Taliban's power structure and is responsible, in particular, for security and police matters.
"The Taliban suppress any resistance and intimidate the population," said Ibrahimi, who had to leave Afghanistan after the Taliban took power.
"In Badakhshan province, in the northeast of the country, they are taking action against farmers who don't know what else to grow because the Taliban have banned poppy cultivation," she added.
In Afghanistan, one of the poorest countries in the world, up to 80% of the population works in agriculture. Compared to other crops, opium cultivation was significantly more profitable, even in times of drought, and offered many farmers a secure source of income.
On the orders of their supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban have stopped poppy cultivation throughout Afghanistan. Now the farmers are left with nothing and don't know how to feed their families.
Afghan farmers fear for livelihoods after Taliban poppy ban
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Poverty in Afghanistan under the Taliban
Since the Taliban came to power, more than half of Afghanistan's population has slipped below the poverty line. Millions of people are dependent on humanitarian aid. The country has a population of around 41.5 million. According to the United Nations Population Fund, around 43% are children between the ages of 0 and 14.
According to a March 2025 report by UNICEF, every second child in Afghanistan is in urgent need of emergency aid. The number of acutely malnourished children is rising steadily. Many underage girls are forced into marriage because their families no longer know how to feed their children.
"These are children who are denied the right to education, personal development and even childlike play. They are also confronted with painful consequences such as premature births, extreme poverty, family violence and social isolation," an activist from an Afghan women's protest movement, Purple Saturday, told DW in an email. For security reasons, she asked not to be named.
"And this in a society in which the support structures for women and children have practically collapsed," she added.
These local activists try to inform women and young girls through their networks and, for example, teach them privately.
Under the Taliban, women are no longer allowed to study at universities. Secondary schools after the fifth grade have been banned for girls.
"Now more than ever, we need the genuine and unconditional solidarity of the international community," the activist said.
Afghanistan: Women become 'invisible' under Taliban
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Those who fled the Taliban fear returning
Many desperate mothers have fled to neighboring countries, including Diba, a mother of three.
Before the Taliban takeover, she had worked in the Afghan Ministry of Education and was a co-founder of an institution for the advancement of women, which was later closed by the Taliban. After months under Taliban rule, the women's rights activist was forced to flee to Pakistan.
"I sold all my belongings and fled," she told DW, adding she now fears being deported from Pakistan after her visa expired. Afghan refugees are currently being deported from Pakistan en masse. According to estimates, around 200,000 people were deported in April and May alone.
"I would rather hide than return to Afghanistan," Diba said.
In Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, she would not even be allowed to move freely in society as a woman, let alone find a job to support her family. Her daughters would not have a self-determined life. She hopes to find a way to get herself and her children to a safe third country.
Other countries are also planning to deport Afghan refugees.
Iran, for example, has announced that it will return four million Afghans to their supposedly "safe home country" this year. In May alone, 15,000 people were deported. "We will welcome them," the Taliban promised.
Fear among Afghan refugees as Pakistan steps up deportations
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Parvaneh Alizadeh from DW's Dari/Pashto department contributed to this report
This article was originally written in German.
Edited by: Srinivas Mazumdaru