The Taliban have executed former government employees, national defence security forces and some police officers; abused women’s rights activists and silenced journalists; and a week before the anniversary of their takeover they completely cut off internet access in Kabul. 

The people of Afghanistan have not given up, continuing to risk their lives when fighting for an open, plural, and democratic society. But is the West ready to challenge the harmful myths the Taliban would have the world believe?

Before last summer’s offensive, Afghanistan’s civil society was active in condemning the Taliban – only 10 per cent of the population sympathised with the Islamist group. However, concerns raised by the people of Afghanistan were overlooked during US-Taliban talks in the years prior to the takeover, and these concerns continue to be downplayed amongst many in Western policy circles. In the meantime, the Taliban is systematically reversing all positive achievements of the past two decades, including the advancement of human rights, freedom of expression and tolerance.

There are three myths about the Taliban that the international community continues to perpetuate, to the detriment of the people of Afghanistan. The first – that the West’s engagement with the Taliban will lead to an advancement in human rights, particularly women’s – was held by many politicians and policymakers in the West. 

In the last year, women’s rights have been decimated in Afghanistan, where the Taliban have instead made every effort to eliminate women from public life. Only recently, the Taliban’s Chief of Justice published a book outlining the ideal Islamic political and administrative system. In it, to support his argument for confining women to the home, he cites a poem by 13th-century poet Saadi Shirazi: “If she gets out of her home, may it only be to her graveyard”.