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ISLAMABAD: Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers celebrated the fourth anniversary of their return to power in August, with Defense Ministry helicopters scattering flowers from the air to crowds below.
Some 10,000 people gathered across the capital, Kabul, in six locations to watch the “flower shower.”
The Taliban seized controlof Afghanistan on Aug. 15, 2021, as the US and NATO withdrew their forces at the end of a two-decade war.
Since then, they have reimposed their interpretation of Islamic law on daily life, including sweeping restrictions on women and girls, based on edicts from their leader Hibatullah Akhundzada.
The anniversary program also comprised speeches from key Cabinet members. An outdoor sports performance, initially expected to feature Afghan athletes, did not take place.
Members of the United Afghan Women’s Movement for Freedom staged an indoor protest on Friday in northeast Takhar province against Taliban rule.
“This day marked the beginning of a black domination that excluded women from work, education, and social life,” the movement said in a statement shared with The Associated Press. “We, the protesting women, remember this day not as a memory, but as an open wound of history, a wound that has not yet healed. The fall of Afghanistan was not the fall of our will. We stand, even in the darkness.”
Rights groups, foreign governments, and the UN have condemned the Taliban for their treatment of women and girls, who are barred from education beyond sixth grade, many jobs, and some public spaces.
There was also an indoor protest in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad.
Afghan women held up signs that said, “Forgiving the Taliban is an act of enmity against humanity” and “August 15th is a dark day.”
Taliban leader warns God will punish the ungrateful
Earlier in the day, the Taliban leader warned God would severely punish Afghans who were ungrateful for Islamic rule in the country, according to a statement.
Akhundzada, who is seldom seen in public, said in a statement that Afghans had endured hardships and made sacrifices for almost 50 years so that Islamic law, or Sharia, could be established. Sharia had saved people from “corruption, oppression, usurpation, drugs, theft, robbery, and plunder.”
“These are great divine blessings that our people should not forget and, during the commemoration of Victory Day (Aug. 15), express great gratitude to Allah Almighty so that the blessings will increase,” said Akhundzada in comments shared on the social platform X.
“If, against God’s will, we fail to express gratitude for blessings and are ungrateful for them, we will be subjected to the severe punishment of Allah Almighty,” he said.
Cabinet members gave speeches listing the administration’s achievements and highlighting diplomatic progress. Those who spoke included Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi and Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani.
Earlier in August, at a Cabinet meeting in Kandahar, Akhundzada said the stability of the Taliban government lay in the acquisition of religious knowledge.
He urged the promotion of religious awareness, the discouragement of immoral conduct, the protection of citizens from harmful ideologies, and the instruction of Afghans in matters of faith and creed, according to a statement shared by government spokesman, Hamdullah Fitrat.
Akhundzada ordered the Kabul Municipality to build more mosques, and there was a general focus on identifying means to “further consolidate and fortify” the Islamic government, said Fitrat.
This year’s anniversary celebrations were more muted than last year’s, when the Taliban staged a military parade at a US air base, drawing anger from President Donald Trump about the abandoned American hardware on display.
The country is also gripped by a humanitarian crisis made worse by climate change, millions of Afghans expelled from Iran and Pakistan, and a sharp drop in donor funding.

ROME: Over 200,000 people protested across Italy on Friday as they downed tools in support of the Gaza aid flotilla in a strike that caused widespread disruption.

Demonstrators condemned the treatment of the Global Sumud Flotilla that sailed to challenge Israel’s blockade of Gaza, where the UN has reported famine conditions after nearly two years of war.
The Italian strike, called by the USB and CGIL unions, followed demonstrations on Thursday in cities across the world, including Milan and Rome, where some 10,000 people marched from the Colosseum.
Protesters marched again on Friday, setting off from the vast plaza outside Rome’s central Termini train station, where services were canceled or delayed.
Among the crowd, estimated at least 80,000 by police, was Giordano Fioramonti, 19, protesting alongside other youngsters, university students, and professors.
“It’s also our civic duty to show how angry and unhappy we are with what is happening in the world, with our government, to show our support for the flotilla, especially for Palestine, for the Gazans who are being killed, tortured, and massacred,” said Fioramonti.
Up and down the country, thousands of people gathered for marches and flashmobs, from Turin and Trento in the north to Bari and Palermo in the south, according to local media, which reported that they sometimes blocked highways or train tracks.
Police said over 80,000 people were demonstrating in Milan, where a sea of people clapped and waved the Palestinian flag as they made their way through the streets, carrying a massive banner reading: “Free Palestine, Stop the War Machine.”
Police set off smoke bombs to remove several hundred protesters who had broken off from the main march to occupy a ring road in Milan, television images showed.
Organizers said 50,000 people were marching in Turin and 40,000 in Genoa, while 10,000 protesters were blocking the port of Naples.
National rail firm Trenitalia warned the national strike would last until 8:59 p.m. on Friday.
Protesters occupied train stations from Perugia to Cagliari, according to local media.
“Today, 1 million Italians will be left stranded on trains alone,” Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini told the Mattino Cinque television show.
Commercial traffic was blocked at the port of Livorno, local media reported.
Images in Bologna showed protesters marching down a section of the motorway that circles the city, a key artery between the south and the northeast.
Italy’s Foreign Ministry announced that Israel had released four Italian parliamentarians out of the 40 Italians detained from the flotilla.
The two members of parliament and two members of the European Parliament were due to return to Rome on Friday, the ministry said.
“The flotilla was trying to do what European governments and the EU should be doing, namely, breaking this blockade of humanitarian aid that is causing a real famine in Gaza,” said Elly Schlein, head of the Democratic Party, or PD, the main opposition party.
“We call for a total arms embargo, as voted for by Spain. We call for full recognition of the State of Palestine,” she said.
The head of Italy’s right-wing government, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, had called the flotilla a “dangerous, irresponsible” initiative, even while Italy sent a navy frigate to assist.
She condemned the national strike, in comments at an EU meeting in Copenhagen Thursday, adding that “long weekends and revolution do not go together.”
Meloni’s reluctance to overtly criticize Israel has spurred a wave of protests in recent weeks.
“You say you are a Christian Italian mother, but you should know that your policies toward Israel offend Christians, mothers, and all Italians who do not feel represented,” said one protester in Rome on Friday, Giuliano Ferrucci, 60.
Italy’s strike watchdog has called Friday’s action illegal on the grounds that unions did not give the required 10 days’ notice.
It “is not just any strike, it has a huge emotional impact and must be handled with care,” the head of the Strike Guarantee Commission, Paola Bellocchi, told Corriere della Sera daily.