2021–2022 Afghanistan protests | |||
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Part of the Afghanistan conflict (1978–present) | |||
Date | 17 August 2021 – 16 January 2022 and 22–24 December 2022 | ||
Location | |||
Caused by |
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Goals |
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Methods | Demonstrations, protests | ||
Resulted in | Government crackdown
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Parties | |||
Lead figures | |||
No centralized leadership | |||
Casualties | |||
Death(s) | At least 10 protesters | ||
Injuries | 100+ | ||
Arrested | At least 6 journalists; later released |
Protests in Afghanistan held by Islamic democrats and feminists against the treatment of women by the Taliban began on 17 August 2021, following the fall of Kabul. Supported by the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan, the protesters also demanded decentralization, multiculturalism, social justice, [4] labor, education, and food. [5] Pro-Taliban counterprotests also took place. [2] [3]
The Taliban suppressed the protests with increasing violence as time went on, and began kidnapping activists. This policy ultimately resulted in the gradual end of the protests, with the last one in Kabul occurring on 16 January 2022. [6] 2022 saw few protests until the December ban on women attending university, which led to protests in multiple cities that were quickly suppressed with force.
During the 2021 Taliban offensive when Taliban insurgents captured large swathes of territory and assaulted several cities, a number of civilians started pro-government protests in opposition to the Taliban. On 2 August, large numbers of people in the western city of Herat took to their rooftops, using God is the greatest as a rallying cry. The next day, similar protests spread elsewhere; Kabul residents used the same rallying cry while gathering together in the streets waving the Afghan tricolour. [7] It came shortly after a powerful bomb blast targeting the house of the defense minister was committed by the Taliban. [8] The protests in Herat inspired protests in the provinces of Nangarhar, Khost, Kunar and Bamiyan. [9]
On 15 August 2021, the Taliban captured Kabul. This sent many into panic, prompting evacuations of military, embassy staff, and partially, civilians.
On 19 August 2021, small protests consisting of women were reported in Kabul, demanding equal rights for women. [10] [11]
Larger protests emerged in eastern Pashtun-inhabited [12] cities the following day. On 18 August, the Taliban opened fire on demonstrators in Jalalabad, killing 3 and wounding more than a dozen. The Taliban had promised not to be brutal in the way they rule. Witnesses said the deaths happened when local residents tried to install Afghanistan's tricolour at a square in Jalalabad. [13] [14] There were also reports of people trying to plant the tricolour in the eastern cities of Khost and Asadabad. [15]
The next day, 19 August, Afghan Independence Day, protests were reported as spreading to more cities, including large separate protests in Kabul, with 200 people gathered in one demonstration before it was broken up by force by the Taliban. [16] Later on the 19th, some outlets reported that the protests in Kabul had swelled to thousands of protesters. [17] There were multiple reports of the Taliban flag being torn down and replaced by the flag of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, and protesters were reported as flying the latter flag. [18] [16] Several protesters were reported killed after they were fired upon while they were waving national flags during Afghan Independence Day in Asadabad, [18] [16] where "hundreds of people" were described as joining the protest. [18] In Kabul on the 19th, a procession of cars and people carried a long Afghan tricolor in a symbol of defiance. [19] In Khost Province on the 19th, the Taliban violently broke up another protest, and declared a 24-hour curfew; meanwhile, in Nangarhar Province, a video was posted showing a bleeding protester with a gunshot wound being carried away. [19]
Amrullah Saleh, formerly the vice president and the declared acting "caretaker" President of Afghanistan by the Panjshir resistance per the Afghan constitution in the event of the flight abroad of former President Ashraf Ghani, saluted protesters "who carry the national flag and thus stand for dignity of the nation" on 19 August. [18] However, the priority of the US is still geared towards securing the perimeter of the airport, as well as raising the number of evacuees out of the capital Kabul, Pentagon officials disclosed. [20]
On 20 August, Afghan women held a protest gathering about their worries for the future and about women's participation in the new government. Human rights activist Fariha Esar stated, "We will not relinquish our right to education, the right to work, and our right to political and social participation." [21]
"They said I should stay at home because I don't have a mahram to accompany me to the entrance of the clinic.
~ Bano, sole breadwinner for three children.
On 2 September, 24 women in Herat held a street protest, calling for women to be included in the Taliban government and for all working women to be allowed to return to work. One of the posters stated, "Education, work and security are our — inalienable rights". Protest organisers said that they planned for women's protests to spread across all of Afghanistan. [1] A similar women's protest took place in Kabul on 3 September, again calling for women to be included in the government, and in other political decision-making processes. The protesters called for women to defend improvements in their rights gained during the first two decades of the twenty-first century. Another women's protest held in Kabul on the same day appeared to have been blocked by Taliban forces, according to a video circulating on online social media. [23]
Civil rights protests continued on 4 September in Kabul, including journalists and other activists, mostly women. As they marched towards the Presidential Palace, the marchers were blocked by Taliban security forces. The Taliban terminated the march by entering the crowd, firing weapons in the air and using tear gas against the protesters. [24] [25] The Taliban assaulted protesters using rifle butts and metal objects. One of the protesters was knocked unconscious when hit by one of the metal objects. She later received five stitches to treat the wound. Taliban also swore at the protesters. [26]
On 7 September, 200 people protested in front of the Pakistani Embassy in Kabul. Protest slogans included "Pakistan, Pakistan, Leave Afghanistan" and protesters called for "freedom". Taliban security forces broke up the protest by firing into the air and detained Wahid Ahmadi, a TOLOnews cameraman. [27] On the same day, 200 people protested in Herat. [28] The Taliban whipped protesters and shot live ammunition into the air to break up the protests. [29] Two [28] or three [29] people were shot dead in the Herat protest. [28]
On 8 September, protests took place in Kabul and Faizabad. The protests were broken up by Taliban security forces. [28] In the Kabul protests, slogans included "A cabinet without women is a failure" [30] and women called for equal rights and "women in government". Women participants in the protest were whipped, tasered, beaten and verbally abused by the Taliban security forces. One female protester said that she was not scared of the Taliban and would continue to participate in protests, stating "It is better to die once than die gradually." [29] Five journalists of the Afghan newspaper Etilaatorz were detained at the 8 September protest, with two hospitalised due to injuries. [29]
Minor protests continued in October, although they diminished in numbers. Foreign policy expert Fabien Baussart argued that Afghan women's protests were weakening in the face of increasing Taliban suppression. [31] A small group of women activists gathered for a protest in Kabul in late October. [32]
On 26 December, hundreds of civilians from Anaba district, Panjshir went out to protest in response to the killing of Mohammad Agha by Taliban-affiliated militants. The victim was allegedly not associated with the National Resistance Front, however some reports stated that he served as a police officer in the previous Afghan government, who returned to his home believing in the promise of amnesty for those associated with the previous government given by the Taliban after the Fall of Kabul. Local Taliban officials confirmed the killing, claiming it was a misunderstanding, while promising to prosecute the perpetrators of the killing. In response to the killing, hundreds of civilians marched to the governor's office, chanting anti-Taliban slogans like "death to the Taliban" and "long live Ahmad Massoud". While the motives for the killing of Mohammad Agha have not been confirmed, the Taliban had been engaging in numerous summary executions and forced disappearances of former members of Afghan security forces, with the victim count being over 100 as of November 2021, contrary to the promise of amnesty given to former government associates by the Taliban. The incident also allegedly occurred days after an attack conducted by the NRF in Panjshir against the Taliban. The deputy chief of security of Panjshir Abdul Hamid Khorasani was reported to have clashed with the protesters, although no casualties were reported. [33] [34] [35] [36]
On 28 December, female activists organized a protest in Kabul with banners demanding respect for women's rights, work, education, and food. This was in reaction to the Taliban government further restricting the rights of Afghan citizens, forbidding women from travelling alone for more than 72 kilometers from their homes and banning music in taxis. The protesters tried to enter the building of the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (which had hosted the Women's Affairs Ministry before the Taliban takeover), whereupon Taliban security forces fired warning shots into the air and dispersed the crowd. One participant claimed that several protesters were injured. [5]
There were new protests in January 2022. Residents of Maymana denounced the arrest of Uzbek Taliban commander Makhdoom Alam by the security forces, [37] while women protested in Kabul against the restriction of their freedoms. [38] After another protest march in Kabul on 16 January, [6] Taliban abducted two women activists, Tamana Zaryabi Paryani and Parwana Ibrahimkhel. Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid responded to the incident by denying the kidnappings at the same time as warning that the government would arrest dissidents "because [turmoil] disrupts peace and order". [39] In the next weeks, Taliban kidnapped several more women activists, protesters, and relatives of the former. [40] In addition, Taliban responses to protests became more violent, with security forces beating up protesters, destroying their placards, and openly threatening them with death or torture. [6]
Faced with the disappearance of at least eight Afghan women's rights activists by 8 February, many others went into hiding out of fear for their lives. As a result, protests appeared to be suppressed by this point. [6] [41]
Starting on 22 December 2022, women protested the ban issued that week on female students attending university. Protests occurred in Kabul, Takhar Province, and Herat. They were quickly suppressed with arrests and force including beatings, with the last one being suppressed with a water cannon in Herat on 24 December. [42] [43] [44]
Despite promises of moderation, Taliban forces were reported to have assaulted journalists who were covering the August protests in Jalalabad and Kabul. [45]
On 19 August, the Taliban urged Muslim clergy to tell their congregants to remain in the country and counter "negative propaganda" on Thursday, and urged Afghans to go back to work. [19] The Taliban also called on the Imams ahead of the Friday prayers, to convince people against leaving the country. [46]
In Canada, several Canadians took to the streets to express their support for evacuees that were left in Afghanistan, following the federal government's decision to end its evacuation mission. [47]
In Athens, hundreds of Afghans rallied to the US embassy calling on the international community for peace. [48]
Ahmad Shah Massoud was an Afghan military leader and politician. He was a guerrilla commander during the resistance against the Soviet occupation during the Soviet–Afghan War from 1979 to 1989. In the 1990s, he led the government's military wing against rival militia, and actively fought against the Taliban, from the time the regime rose to power in 1996, and until his assassination in 2001.
The economy of Afghanistan is listed as the 124th largest in the world in terms of nominal gross domestic product (GDP), and 102nd largest in the world in terms of purchasing power parity (PPP). With a population of around 41 million people, Afghanistan's GDP (nominal) stands at $14.58 billion as of 2021, amounting to a GDP per capita of $363.7. Its annual exports exceed $2 billion, with agricultural, mineral and textile products accounting for 94% of total exports. The nation's total external debt is $1.4 billion as of 2022.
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The following lists events that happened during 2002 in Afghanistan.
The following lists events that happened during 2004 in Afghanistan.
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The Basej-e Milli alternatively called Rawand-e Sabz-e Afghanistan was an Anti-Taliban Afghan nationalist Pro-Democracy political party in Afghanistan. It is currently active as an militant political movement actively engaged in the Republican insurgency in Afghanistan. It was founded by former Afghan intelligence chief Amrullah Saleh.
The year 2021 in Afghanistan was marked by a major offensive from the Taliban beginning in May and the Taliban capturing Kabul in August.
The People's Peace Movement or Helmand Peace Convoy is a nonviolent resistance grassroots group in Afghanistan, created in March 2018 after a suicide car bomb attack on 19 March in Lashkargah, Helmand Province. The PPM calls for the military forces of both the government of Afghanistan and the Taliban to implement a ceasefire and advance the Afghan peace process. The group marched across Afghanistan to Kabul, where it met leaders of both parties and conducted sit-ins in front of diplomatic posts, before continuing its march to Balkh and Mazar-i-Sharif, arriving in September 2018.
Uprising for Change is an Afghan civil disobedience movement that started with tent sit-ins in central Kabul in June 2017 in response to the 31 May 2017 Kabul bombing, the killing of protesters by Afghan security forces on 2 June, the 3 June suicide bombings at a funeral of one of the 2 June victims, and subsequent police violence. On 11 June 2017, the commander of the Kabul Garrison, Ahmadzai, and Kabul police chief Hassan Shah Frogh were suspended from duty following the protests. In March 2018, Uprising for Change called for the Afghan government to be replaced by a six-month interim government.
The 2021 Taliban offensive was a military offensive by the Taliban insurgent group and allied militants that led to the fall of the Kabul-based Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the end of the nearly 20-year War in Afghanistan that had begun following the United States invasion of the country. The Taliban victory had widespread domestic and international ramifications regarding human rights and proliferation of terrorism. The offensive included a continuation of the bottom-up succession of negotiated or paid surrenders to the Taliban from the village level upwards that started following the February 2020 US–Taliban deal.
On 15 August 2021, Afghanistan's capital city of Kabul was captured by the Taliban after a major insurgent offensive that began in May 2021. It was the final action of the War in Afghanistan, and marked a total victory for the Taliban. This led to the overthrowing of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan under President Ashraf Ghani and the reinstatement of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan under the control of the Taliban.
The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan was a presidential republic in Afghanistan from 2004 to 2021. The state was established to replace the Afghan interim (2001–2002) and transitional (2002–2004) administrations, which were formed after the 2001 United States invasion of Afghanistan that had toppled the partially recognized Taliban-ruled Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. However, on 15 August 2021, the country was recaptured by the Taliban, which marked the end of the 2001–2021 war, the longest war in US history. This led to the overthrow of the Islamic Republic, led by President Ashraf Ghani, and the reinstatement of the Islamic Emirate under the control of the Taliban. While the United Nations still recognizes the Islamic Republic as the legitimate government of Afghanistan, this toppled regime controls no portion of the country today, nor does it operate in exile; it effectively no longer exists. The Islamic Emirate is the de facto ruling government. The US–Taliban deal, signed on 29 February 2020 in Qatar, was one of the critical events that caused the collapse of the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF). Following the deal, the US dramatically reduced the number of air attacks and deprived the ANSF of a critical edge in fighting the Taliban insurgency, leading to the Taliban takeover of Kabul.
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