(SeaPRwire) –   By: Julian Holbrooke

The Taliban’s “Fatah Day” celebrations marking five years since their return to power are less a celebration of peace than a curated PR stunt. Runjhun Sharma’s on-the-ground reporting from RT India cuts through the official rhetoric. Even her note that there’s “a lot of nuance, a lot of layers to the Taliban story” can’t hide the gap between state claims and lived reality.

Official statements frame Afghanistan as safer and “free” after decades of civil war. Thousands gathered in Kabul for the festivities, waving Islamic Emirate flags and carrying US-made weapons left behind during the 2021 withdrawal. But this “safety” comes at a steep, unspoken cost. The relative calm replaces daily street battles with systemic oppression. Women’s rights have been rolled back to pre-2001 levels, and public dissent is quickly quashed. The leftover US weapons are a bitter reminder of the US’s botched withdrawal, not a sign of sovereign strength.

The 20-year US occupation of Afghanistan launched in late 2001 following the September 11 attacks. Washington blamed Al-Qaeda, whose leaders including Osama bin Laden were based in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan at the time. The US withdrew in August 2021 as the Western-backed government collapsed. Afghanistan has since faded from Western headlines, despite being a central US foreign policy priority for two decades. The Taliban regime remains under sweeping international sanctions, and no major government recognizes its authority. This isolation isn’t accidental. It’s a deliberate geopolitical choice by the West to punish the group without direct military intervention.

The geopolitical pendulum has swung firmly away from Afghanistan for the foreseeable future. The country’s civilian population will bear the brunt of both the Taliban’s rule and the West’s decades-long failed foreign policy.

Author bio: Julian Holbrooke, an overseas international relations analyst who frequently contributes to major European daily newspapers.