A devastating earthquake underscores how the Taliban has subjected the people of Afghanistan to suffering, while the muted international response shows that even globalists, Muslim-majority nations, and authoritarian regimes are steering clear of the Taliban and its support for transnational terrorism.
Prior to the earthquake, the only government extending significant economic support to the Taliban was the Biden administration. In 2021, it left behind over $7 billions of dollars’ worth of weapons, and over its four-year term (2021–2025) provided an estimated $2.5–3 billion in direct aid. However, the real total is much higher. Testimony before the House Oversight Committee revealed that between 2021 and 2023 alone, the Biden administration gave Afghanistan $8 billion.
The 6.0-magnitude earthquake struck Konar province near the Pakistan border late on August 31, 2025, killing more than 2,200 people and injuring thousands. The shallow quake collapsed fragile mud-and-brick homes, wiping out entire villages and leaving over half a million people without shelter.
This tragedy comes amid one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. Four years of Taliban rule have left Afghanistan isolated, foreign aid has dried up, and nearly half the population, about 23 million, depend on assistance. While the Taliban has appealed for help, its alignment with authoritarian powers, support for terrorism, and gross human rights violations have discouraged broader aid and recognition.
The Taliban maintain close ties with al-Qaeda and provide safe haven for Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which continues to operate from Afghan territory and carry out cross-border attacks. A UN report noted, “The Taliban do not conceive of TTP as a terrorist group: the bonds are close, and the debt owed to TTP is significant.” Other designated terror groups have pledged allegiance to the Taliban, including al-Shabaab, Boko Haram, Jemaah Islamiyah, Jama’at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin, and Ansar al-Sharia in Libya.
Since the fall of Kabul in 2021, only Russia has formally recognized the Taliban as Afghanistan’s government. Moscow lifted its “terrorist” designation in April 2025 and formally recognized the regime that July. China has not granted formal recognition but accepted Taliban credentials in 2024, and Iran has also moved closer, handing over the Afghan embassy in 2023 and sending its foreign minister to Kabul in 2025. Yet both Iran and Pakistan have worsened the crisis by deporting 1.9 million Afghan refugees, many forced to live in tents near the borders.
Under Taliban rule, human rights and quality of life, especially for women, have collapsed. Nearly 23 million Afghans require aid: 21 million lack safe water, 14.8 million face acute food insecurity, 14.3 million have limited healthcare access, and 7.8 million women and children need nutrition support. The World Food Program warns 3.1 million Afghans are on the brink of starvation, with 2.9 million already at emergency levels.
Healthcare is collapsing. By April 2025, 439 facilities had closed due to U.S. funding cuts, leaving three million people without care. More than 200 others have shut from severe shortfalls, affecting two million more. In 2023, reports warned that over 90 percent of facilities were at risk, leading to an estimated 4.8 million unattended pregnancies and 51,000 maternal deaths between 2021 and 2025. Infant mortality was 43 per 1,000 in 2021, and maternal mortality 620 per 100,000 in 2020. Between mid-2024 and mid-2025, 3.5 million children and 1.2 million pregnant or breastfeeding women are projected to suffer acute malnutrition.
The economy has collapsed. Nearly half of Afghans live below the poverty line. Before the Taliban takeover, foreign aid made up 40 percent of GDP, funded more than half the government’s $6 billion budget, and covered up to 80 percent of public expenditures. Since then, this support has vanished, leaving more than 14 million food insecure and nearly five million women and children acutely malnourished.
Repression is systematic. In the first half of 2024, UN monitors recorded nearly 100 arbitrary detentions and at least 20 cases of torture, targeting former officials, deportees, and LGBT Afghans. Corporal punishments are common, with at least 147 men, 28 women, and four boys flogged in 2024, and more than 180 people publicly punished for adultery or homosexuality in early 2025.
Freedom of expression has disappeared. Between 2021 and 2024, UNAMA documented 336 cases of arbitrary arrest, torture, and intimidation of journalists. The Taliban banned live political broadcasts, censored images, and detained reporters, often without legal or family access. Civil society critics also face harassment, including the detention of analyst Jawed Kohistani.
Women and girls have been erased from public life. They are banned from secondary school from age 13, excluded from universities, and denied healthcare without a male guardian. Nearly 80 percent of young women between 18 and 29 are neither in education, employment, nor training. Only one in four women is working or seeking work, compared to nearly 90 percent of men, creating one of the world’s largest workforce gender gaps. The Taliban suspended women’s medical education in 2024, and UNDP estimates these restrictions cost the economy up to $1 billion annually.
Violence compounds repression. ISKP has carried out deadly attacks on Hazara communities, mosques, buses, and Taliban offices. Pakistani cross-border fire and airstrikes have added civilian casualties. Meanwhile, the Taliban’s Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice law enforces strict dress and behavior codes, backed by raids and checkpoints, mirroring their 1996–2001 rule. UN experts describe this as “institutionalized persecution” that may amount to crimes against humanity.
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