The Taliban has celebrated "Victory Day" in Afghanistan, marking one year since seizing control of the country as US troops evacuated in a hurried and chaotic withdrawal.
"Today, and as we see the result of the struggle, is like a dream come true. All of our dreams and hopes have turned into reality with the grace of God," said Mullah Mujahid, a Taliban member out commemorating the anniversary on the streets of Kabul.
The rapid collapse of the western-backed Afghan government, and subsequent Taliban takeover had not been anticipated by the American government. While heralded by some Afghans as finally bringing peace to the region, many millions are on the brink of starvation as the retreat of western aid agencies and their funding begins to have a drastic impact.
"The future is very bleak. We see this is a precipice, and we are driving towards the precipice without even a safety belt on," said Neil Turner, NRC Country Director for Afghanistan.
At Kabul's children's hospital, the malnutrition ward is full - with many cots holding two babies each.
Abeda, mother of a 10-month old baby, said she doesn't know what to do, to save her baby - or her other children.
"My husband said he wants to go to Iran for work, is ashamed he can’t afford to buy him medicine or milk. He says ‘my son is dying in front of my eyes, but I can't do anything,’" she cried.
Famine is threatening nearly half of all Afghans, a threat made worse by a drought, the Covid pandemic and US-imposed sanctions that have isolated Afghanistan from the global banking system and made it difficult for aid agencies to operate there.
Much international funding was also tied to the Taliban's promises of granting women rights - but it has restricted job options, and indefinitely closed girls' schools.
"We have been through four decades of conflict, and the priority of the West is women being represented at different levels," said Taliban spokesman Abdul Qahar Balkhi.
"What we are asking for is a level of understanding and respect for the state of Afghanistan," he said.
Today the United States refused to take any responsibility for the desperate situation the people of Afghanistan find themselves in.
"There are a number of enduring commitments we have to the people of Afghanistan," said State Department spokesman Ned Price.
"At the top of that list is to use every tool that we have appropriate to see to it that the Taliban lives up to the commitments that it has made publicly, that it has made privately, but most importantly, the commitments that the Taliban has made to its own people, to all of the Afghan people."
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