Conditions for Afghans living under Taliban rule have deteriorated over the past three years, with the humanitarian crisis deepening, women’s rights being severely curtailed, and Kabul largely isolated from the international community.

A quarter of Afghans face extreme poverty, more than half the nation requires humanitarian assistance, and according to the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), a significant portion of the population is “subsistence insecure,” meaning they lack consistent access to essential resources such as food, water, housing, and healthcare.

Following the Taliban takeover of Kabul on August 15, 2021, Afghanistan’s economy “basically collapsed,” according to the UNDP, largely due to the cessation of international funding through government donor programs, like the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund.

The Taliban has exacerbated its own economic crisis by promoting its extremist ideologies and implementing oppressive bans on women’s participation in public life or education. 

In the three years since Washington concluded its “War on Terror,” many have questioned whether life in Afghanistan is worse than it was before the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the U.S. and its subsequent invasion.

“If it’s not worse, it’s heading in that direction quickly,” Michael Rubin, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and expert on security issues in the Middle East and South Asia, told Digital.  

The Taliban has not only reinstated harsh bans on women, but it has also reintroduced corporal punishment through public floggings and amputations. Additionally, the Taliban’s supreme leader, Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada, in May threatened to reinstate stoning women to death for adultery – a Taliban punishment on women that was never fully eradicated even during the U.S. incursion. 

“The biggest difference between now and pre-2001 is the Taliban are much better resourced,” said Rubin, who spent time with the Taliban before the 9/11 attacks.

Rubin said that even though the Taliban are not directly funded by international humanitarian groups, it has found ways to siphon off funding for its own gains. 

The Taliban marked the three-year anniversary of the takeover of Kabul in a parade on Wednesday at Bagram Air Base – formally the largest U.S. military base in Afghanistan – while showing off U.S. military hardware that had been abandoned following the withdrawal.

While neglecting any mention of human rights, speeches championing Taliban efforts to squash opposition to the extremist group were flaunted, along with a reference to Afghanistan’s continued isolation from the international community.

“The Islamic Emirate eliminated internal differences and expanded the scope of unity and cooperation in the country,” Deputy Prime Minister Maulvi Abdul Kabir said in reference to a term the Taliban uses to describe its government, according to an AP News report. “No one will be allowed to interfere in internal affairs and Afghan soil will not be used against any country.”

Former U.S. military machinery like helicopters, tanks and vehicles were displayed alongside soldiers holding light and heavy machine guns.

“The Taliban holds these parades yearly to rub their victory and our defeat in our face,” Bill Roggio, senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and founding editor of “The Long War Journal,” told Digital.

Afghanistan has largely remained an international pariah over its human rights violations. But even as some countries have begun to allow for diplomatic engagement with the insurgent group, Western nations remain highly concerned over how Afghanistan has once again become a haven for terrorist organizations.

“Afghanistan is far more dangerous today than it was prior to 9/11,” Roggio said. “The Taliban is in full control of the country, and it is sheltering and supporting al Qaeda and allied terror groups.”

Roggio said al Qaeda is once again running training camps in at least 12 provinces across the country with very little internal resistance.