Five years after reclaiming Kabul, the Taliban govern Afghanistan with total formal authority yet diminishing practical legitimacy — a paradox that defines fragile states across history. They have unified the instruments of power while alienating the conditions that make power sustainable: economic vitality, international recognition, and the consent, however reluctant, of the governed. What the world watches now is not a regime on the verge of collapse, but one caught in the slow erosion that comes when force substitutes indefinitely for governance.
Taliban Mark 5 Years in Power as Cracks Emerge in Afghan Control
Millions of Afghans face humanitarian crisis under Taliban rule, including severe restrictions on women's rights, economic collapse, and displacement.
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