Afghanistan
Afghanistan performs in the low range across all four categories of the Global State of Democracy framework. It also falls among the bottom 25 per cent of the world in almost all indicators. Over the last five years, it has experienced notable declines across almost all indicators, especially since the Taliban retook Kabul in 2021. Of particular note are Representation, as the Taliban show no plans for national elections; Civil Liberties, as every right to public speech and expression has been severely curtailed, most drastically for women; and Rule of Law, given the lack of an independent parliament or judiciary. Despite being one of the world’s most resource-rich nations, notably in minerals, Afghanistan is heavily dependent on external support. The withdrawal of international aid since 2021 has led to an economic collapse and humanitarian crisis.
Afghanistan’s politics are the product of a diverse society, two foreign invasions, and a patchwork of guerilla groups that fought to repel the invasions. Constant fighting and a stagnant economy led Afghanistan to be among the world’s leading countries of origin for refugees. The failure of competing victorious factions to share power following the victory of Afghan mujahadeen over the Soviet Union in 1989 made space for the rise of the Taliban, a militant group holding an extremist vision of Islam, who secured a loose hold over about 85 per cent of the country by 1996. After the attacks of September 11, 2001 on the United States (U.S.), the U.S. and its allies invaded and installed a new government. In the two decades that followed, the coalition never fully defeated the Taliban. Despite widespread international support, a peaceful change in executive power, and the entry of Afghan women into public life and civil society, the U.S.-backed government lost legitimacy, gaining a reputation for corruption, impunity, election fraud, and reliance on repression at a regional level. A renewed offensive by the Taliban after the U.S. agreed to withdraw led to retreats by the Afghan army, and the Taliban quickly retook control of the country.
Afghanistan’s society is diverse, and its ethnic and religious groupings map imprecisely onto its politics. The Taliban is Sunni Muslim and fundamentalist, and predominantly Pashtun, the largest of Afghanistan’s ethnic groups at 42 per cent of the population. The other major ethnic groups include Tajiks, Hazaras, Uzbeks, Turkmen, and Baluchi. The Hazaras, the only majority Shia Muslim group, are a frequent target of the Taliban and the Islamic State Khorasan (ISIS-K), which competes with the Taliban. The Taliban has also shown divisions between the more conservative leadership based in Kandahar and more accommodationist officials in Kabul. The Taliban’s suppression of women’s rights including their involvement in public life and girls’ right to education, divides them from the professional class that developed under the U.S.-backed government. The Taliban’s repression has also manifested through the resumption of public executions and intensifying crackdown on civil society. With the current crisis, exacerbated by the economic and climate shocks, over 5 million people are displaced and nearly half the population live in poverty. Afghan refugees living in Pakistan and potentially other countries face increasing threats of deportation.
Considering the prevalence of the Taliban’s stronghold, conflict and humanitarian crisis, improvements towards peace and democracy remain strained. It will be critical to watch prospects of the UN-led processes aimed at building peace within Afghanistan as well as with its neighbors, and ensuring that human rights – most notably women’s rights – are not compromised, in exchange of the political and security agenda.
Last updated: July 2024
https://www.idea.int/democracytracker/
September 2024
New restrictions on political media
In a new directive from 21 September, the Taliban has banned live broadcasting of political shows in the country. Going forward, the Taliban needs to approve the content and participants and can censor any part of the show before it airs. The Taliban has further sent an expert list consisting of 68 people that are approved to appear on political shows. Participants outside of this list require permission from the Ministry of Information and Culture. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), this decree marks yet another breach in the journalistic freedom and political diversity in Afghanistan, showing that the Taliban is seeking to further control the public sphere through the media and suppress critical voices.
Sources: Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Deutsche Welle (DW), KabulNow
August 2024
Taliban formalizes restrictions on public conduct through new law
On 21 August, the Taliban codified into law requirements that women cover their faces in public, not leave the house without male accompaniment and other measures, many of which had already been implemented since the Taliban had taken control of the government. The “Law on Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice” marks the first time that the Taliban has put such repressive practices into law, thereby formalizing and expanding the scope of these restrictions. The new law targets both women and men, although women's rights are especially affected. Experts say this is a next step by the Taliban to further cement its interpretation of Sharia law and take direct control of private conduct.
Sources: Afghanistan Analysts Network, The Diplomat, Reuters, Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
July 2023
Taliban bans beauty salons
A verbal decree by supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada banned all beauty salons in Afghanistan on 4 July, following bans on women and girls attending schools, working at NGOs, and visiting public areas such as parks. The decree is expected to result in more than 60,000 women losing their jobs and the shuttering of 12,000 businesses. The International Labor Organization told Reuters the decrease in women’s employment is expected to be significant, and that many women working in the industry are their family’s primary source of income.
Major aid agency banned over Quran burnings
The Taliban suspended the activities of the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan (SAK) on 11 July in response to several burnings of the Quran in Stockholm over the summer. The SAK, which has operated in Afghanistan uninterrupted since 1980, has a sizable presence across the country, employing 8,000 Afghans, running healthcare facilities that treat 2.5 million patients, schools that educate 130,000 rural children, and services that support 20,000 disabled people in the same rural communities. A Taliban spokesman said that all activities would cease “until the country of Sweden apologises to Muslims.”
Sources: Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty, The Interpreter, Swedish Committee for Afghanistan
March 2023
Taliban civil society crackdown deepens
Human Rights Watch reported an expansion of the Taliban’s crackdown on journalists, women’s rights protesters, civil society activists, and humanitarian workers in what it described as an effort to crush all criticism as the path to political legitimacy. Those detained were denied access to lawyers and their family, and in most cases, authorities offered little or no explanation for the detentions, let alone how long detentions would last or under what legal pretext. In a separate statement, the United Nations Security Council urged the Taliban to relax its restrictions, worrying hunger and insecurity were taking an increasingly devastating toll on the country’s citizens.
Sources: Human Rights Watch, United Nations
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Global ranking per category of democratic performance in 2023
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