Above image: Screenshot from livestream by Radio Television Afghanistan.
The Taliban’s return to power occurred on 24 Asad 1400 in the solar calendar, commonly used in Afghanistan, coinciding with 15 August 2021 of the Gregorian calendar, following the withdrawal of US troops and coalition partners from the country. In 2024, 24 Asad coincided with 14 August, the day the Taliban celebrated the third anniversary of the fall of Kabul. The Taliban’s decision to celebrate on the 14 instead of 15 August led some anti-Taliban social media accounts to criticise them for celebrating on the same day as Pakistan’s Independence Day, accusing them of being puppets of Pakistan.
The date was marked with three major celebrations held in Kandahar, Parwan, and Kabul. Overall the anniversary was celebrated without known disruptions. Taliban leaders’ remarks during celebrations emphasised the need for unity between the nation and the Taliban, as well as the framing of ‘jihad’ and ‘victory’ as the result of joint efforts. Leaders also underscored Taliban achievements, and the Supreme Leader reiterated that the ongoing implementation of Sharia remains the group’s top priority.
Beyond its symbolic significance, the Taliban’s choice of the Bagram Airbase, in Parwan, to host celebrations, may have been driven by security concerns surrounding the attendance of senior Taliban leaders. Located in an isolated desert, Bagram is easier to secure than densely populated Kabul, where a Mujahideen Victory Day celebration was targeted by the Taliban in 2008.
In Kandahar, the birthplace of the Taliban movement, the celebration was reportedly held at Kandahar Airfield, where the Taliban’s Supreme Leader Mawlawi Hibatullah Akhundzada addressed local officials, religious leaders, and residents. Although no visuals were released, an audio recording of Akhundzada’s speech was shared by Taliban Spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid and state-run media, Radio Television Afghanistan (RTA).
The two other events were live streamed by the Taliban’s Government Media and Information Center and RTA on their respective YouTube pages. At the Bagram Airbase, the focus of the celebrations appeared to have been the Taliban’s military capabilities, with a parade showcasing their current arsenal. Meanwhile, the event at Kabul’s Ghazi Stadium was attended by a large number of civilians seen participating in a variety of sports, as seen below.
Figure: Comparison between the celebrations at the Bagram Airbase in Parwan province (left), and Kabul’s Ghazi Stadium (right).
According to Afghanistan International and Etilaatroz, the Ministry of Education (MoE) ordered male students and teachers, including some from Bamyan province, to attend and participate in the celebrations in Kabul. Moreover, Independent Persian journalist Mukhtar Wafayee shared an official letter ordering 3,000 students and teachers to travel to the capital to attend the celebrations.
The celebrations in Kabul’s Ghazi Stadium were the first observed event marking the anniversary of Taliban takeover that included significant civilian participation. Based on the various claims of the forced attendance of thousands of male students and teachers, AW assess it is likely the Taliban was attempting to inflate the number of civilians who appear to be supportive of the IEA.
AW also recorded many claims of Taliban members forcing the population to participate in celebratory events throughout the country. According to Afghan news agencies, in the provinces of Panjshir, Daikundi and Kandahar Taliban members forced shopkeepers to close their shops during the celebrations, and fly the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) flag outside their shops, under threat of forced closure of their business. In Khost province, 8am Media reported that Taliban officials from the Ministry of Information and Culture told a number of local media outlets to focus on programming celebrating the anniversary.
Taliban leaders’ attendance of celebrations and speeches
The Taliban’s Supreme Leader, who reportedly attended the Kandahar celebrations, addressed officials, religious leaders, and local residents. In his speech Akhundzada celebrated the group’s victory in Afghanistan, attributing it to divine intervention, and urged the Taliban to maintain their unity and avoid the mistakes of the anti-Soviet Mujahideen, who fell into civil war after defeating Soviet forces.
He emphasised the importance of implementing Sharia law impartially, starting with themselves, and warned against power struggles, nepotism, and ethnic discrimination. Akhundzada also called for compassion towards the Afghan people and stressed that justice is essential to sustaining the Taliban regime. He concluded by praying for the victory of Palestinians and divine retribution against Israel.
The commemoration held at Bagram Airbase in Parwan was attended by all three Deputy Prime Ministers and numerous Taliban Cabinet Ministers. An address by Prime Minister Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund, delivered by his Chief of Office (as Akhund is currently receiving medical treatment in the United Arab Emirates), stressed that Taliban duties extend beyond the victory of jihad. He highlighted the importance of strengthening the Islamic system, ensuring the security of the people, and addressing damage caused by past wars, urging Taliban members to remain vigilant in fulfilling these critical responsibilities.
Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Prime Minister’s Economic Deputy, inspected the Special Guard, while Political and Administrative Deputies addressed participants. Political Deputy Mawlawi Abdul Kabir emphasised that while the Taliban have achieved two of their three main goals – ending the occupation and establishing an Islamic system – their remaining task is to strengthen this system and focus on the reconstruction and development of Afghanistan.
Kabir highlighted the Taliban’s achievements, noting that ‘tens’ of foreign embassies have reopened in Kabul. He added that Taliban diplomats are now present in nearly 40 Afghan embassies and consulates abroad. He also claimed the Taliban had eradicated the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) from Afghanistan, and said the de facto authorities were focusing on economic development, including mining and investment opportunities, while enforcing a ban on drugs.
Deputy Prime Minister for Administrative Affairs, Mawlawi Abdul Salam Hanafi, the most senior non-Pashtun Taliban official, urged IEA leaders to make concerted efforts to foster unity among Afghans and eliminate all forms of ethnic and linguistic discrimination.
Minister of Interior, Khalifa Sirajuddin Haqqani, like other Taliban officials, began his address by congratulating all Afghans and Muslims worldwide on the Taliban’s victory. He also addressed the Palestinian people saying: “Just as Afghans gained their freedom after a long and difficult struggle, a similar day is coming for you, and you will achieve your independence.”
AW noted in photos and videos of the Parwan event that several other ministers were present but not observed delivering speeches, including Defence Minister Mawlawi Mohammad Yaqub Mujahid, Foreign Minister Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi, Mines and Petroleum Minister Mullah Hedayatullah Badri, Minister of Energy and Water Abdul Latif Mansoor, Minister of Refugees Khalil ur-Rahman Haqqani, Minister of Hajj Mawlawi Noor Mohammad Saqib, Minister of Telecommunications Najibullah Haqqani, Minister of Information and Culture Mullah Khairullah Khairkhwa, General Director of Intelligence Mullah Abdul Haq Wasiq, and Chief of Army Staff Mawlawi Fasihuddin Fetrat.
Following their appearance at the Bagram event, Deputy Prime Minister for Political Affairs Mawlawi Abdul Kabir and Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi joined Minister of Economy Qari Din Mohammad Hanif, as well as other mid-rank Taliban officials at the Ghazi Stadium in Kabul.
In his speech in Kabul, Kabir hailed the Taliban’s victory as a triumph for the entire Afghan nation, and commended the people for their support of the Taliban throughout the 20-year struggle against US and NATO forces. Muttaqi then emphasised that the IEA aims to establish balanced relations with all countries and does not want Afghanistan to become a stage for negative competition between them. In his address, Hanif described the Taliban’s victory as a historic day, and like Kabir and Muttaqi, he credited the victory to the collective efforts of the entire Afghan people.
Celebration of the Taliban’s anniversary abroad
The Taliban also marked the third anniversary of their victory with celebrations abroad, including at Afghanistan’s embassies and consulates in several countries. On 14 August 2024, the Taliban commemorated their victory at the embassy in Malaysia, by simply raising their white flag.
On 15 August 2024, Pakistani government officials and representatives from various political and religious parties attended the Taliban’s celebration event at the Afghan embassy in Islamabad. An X (formerly Twitter) account attributed to the Taliban’s ambassador to Islamabad claimed, by sharing a photo, that the Russian ambassador to Pakistan was also among the guests at the celebration event. AW observed that the Russian Ambassador was seated in the front row, as seen in a video of the event shared by the Taliban’s embassy in Islamabad.
Figure: Screenshot from a video showing the Russian ambassador in Islamabad, attending the Taliban’s victory celebration (left); photo posted by the Taliban’s ambassador to Islamabad (right).
Also on 15 August, a celebration ceremony took place in the Taliban’s embassy in Iran. However, according to the Taliban’s video, and reports of the event, no senior Iranian officials were in attendance.
According to the Taliban’s Ministry of Information and Culture, the group’s victory day was also celebrated at Afghanistan’s embassy in Moscow on 15 August 2024. The event was reportedly attended by Taliban diplomats and members of the Afghan community living there, however there was no mention of any officials from the host country in attendance.
Anniversary celebrations on social media
To commemorate the anniversary, official and pro-Taliban accounts on X shared posts with two main hashtags, #الفتح (Al-Fath or ‘conquest’) and #اسد۲۴ (Assad24 or ‘August 14’). The hashtags were used independently as well as in the same posts.
According to Meltwater – a social media listening tool – between 11 and 17 August 2024, the hashtag #الفتح was mentioned more than 129,000 times by accounts on X, and the hashtag #اسد۲۴ mentioned 9,000 times. The graphs below shows that a spike occurred on 14 August 2024, with #اسد۲۴ receiving 55,000 mentions, and #الفتح receiving more than 3,700 mentions.
Figure: Graphs generated from Meltwater, showing the use of the hashtag #الفتح (left), and #اسد۲۴ (right) on X between 11 and 17 August.
On 14 August 2024, pro-Taliban accounts on X shared posts that included the hashtags by themselves or together. All of the posts focused on celebrating Afghanistan’s freedom from Western forces, showing the celebrations that were occurring in different provinces such as in Herat and Balkh, and congratulating Taliban fighters for their success in liberating Afghanistan.
Deputy Director General of RTA, Hedayatullah Hedayat, shared several posts with the hashtag #الفتح. These included a video mentioning the achievements of the Taliban over the past three years, an anthem celebrating Afghanistan’s freedom, and a video suggesting the importance of “raise[ing] children with the idea of freedom and independence.” The video also commemorated Taliban fighters who fought for the country’s independence.
Figure: Screenshot of a post shared by Hedayat with the hashtag #الفتح on 14 August 2024.
Women’s Indoor protests
Numerous women activists conducted indoor group and individual protests on the third anniversary of the Taliban takeover. AW observed protests starting in the days preceding the occasion. The indoor protests, held by members of women’s protest groups, were shared on social media, claiming to have taken place in multiple provinces inside Afghanistan, including as Balkh, Kabul, Panjshir, and Takhar, as well as in Iran and Pakistan.
The protests were held by multiple established women’s protest groups, such as the Women’s Movement Towards Freedom, the Purple Saturdays, Afghanistan Women’s Movement for Justice and Freedom, Spontaneous Movement of Women Fighters of Afghanistan, Afghanistan Women’s Voice Movement, Window to Freedom of Women of Afghanistan Movement, Afghanistan Women’s Protest Movements Coalition, Afghanistan Women’s Political Participation Network (AWPPN), Window of Hope Women’s Movement, Afghan Women’s Justice Women, Takhar Women’s Movement, Badakhshan Women’s Movement and Afghanistan Women’s History Transformation Movement.
In nearly all the videos, where demonstrators claimed to have been inside the country, the women’s faces were covered with face masks, placards, and scarves, and in some images, the protesters’ hands.
The protests inside Afghanistan were claimed to have been conducted in Balkh, Daykundi, Kabul, Panjshir, and Takhar provinces. The language used in these protests was predominantly Farsi/Dari, and occasionally written English. Slogans included: “We will not tolerate oppression,” “Bread, work, freedom, “15 August, a dark day in the history of Afghanistan,” and “Death to the Taliban and their supporters” among others.
Meanwhile, videos circulated on X of protesters burning photos of Taliban leaders, claiming to be within Afghanistan.
Furthermore, on 14 August 2024, the Women’s Council of the National Resistance Front (NRF), also known as NRF Women, shared a video of an indoor protest on X, claiming that it took place in Kabul. In the video, the women can be heard chanting: “Long live the NRF.”
Women’s Outdoor protests
On 12 August 2024, Afghanistan International shared a blurred video of a women’s protest, where at least three women can be seen with black headscarves and face coverings, claiming they had held an outdoor protest in Takhar province that was disrupted by the Taliban. The video ends showing at least six women with their faces covered on an empty road, walking and chanting slogans.
According to Voice of America, the protesters belong to the “New Thought Movement,” and had planned to hold a protest in Taloqan, the provincial capital. Quoting one of the protesters, the article claims that the Taliban managed to disrupt the protests but could not detain the protesters.
On 14 August, Rukhshana Media, a women-led, women-focused news outlet, shared a video showing several women with covered faces writing slogans in Farsi/Dari and English on a wall. These slogans included: “Free Afghan Women” and “15 August, a dark day in Afghanistan’s history.” The women can be seen walking with placards in hand in what appears to be an alley. According to Rukhshana Media, the protest was held by members of the Movement of Powerful Women of Afghanistan in Kabul.
AW was unable to verify the outdoor protests reported to have taken place in Afghanistan.
Like the indoor protests, female activists protested outdoors in Iran and Pakistan. In the protests outside the country, especially those conducted in Pakistan, women mostly appear without covering their faces, standing alongside with male protesters and attendees.
Amid Taliban restrictions and suppression of women’s protests, indoor protests increasingly occur with women appearing in small groups or individually with their faces covered, in non-geolocatable spaces. However, among activists who have left the country, larger-scale protests, both indoors and outdoors, have become possible, especially in neighbouring Pakistan, where women often do not hide their faces.
AW has observed the diversification of women’s groups and protests over time as countless movements have been formed, along with a coalition that appears to consist of the groups. Initially, there were only four women’s protest groups following the Taliban takeover. These include: the Movement of Powerful Women of Afghanistan, the Spontaneous Movement of Women Fighters of Afghanistan, the Afghan Women’s Movement for Justice, and the Women’s Unity and Solidarity Team.