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A Meduza report based on a reporter’s August 2026 trip to three Afghan cities examines life five years after the Taliban returned to power. It describes safer long-distance travel and a major anti-opium campaign, while documenting persistent poverty, unemployment, exclusion of minorities and restrictions on women’s rights.
Meduza has published a report from Afghanistan examining five years of Taliban rule, describing improved security on some roads and an apparent government success in curbing opium alongside mass poverty, unemployment and severe restrictions on women. Middle East scholar Ruslan Suleymanov traveled to three cities in August 2026 and spoke with dozens of people for the report, which portrays a country where the end of active fighting has not brought broad improvements to daily life.
On the roughly 500-kilometer road from Herat to Kandahar, Suleymanov encountered poor pavement and document checks at frequent Taliban checkpoints. He also described the journey as relatively safe compared with decades when roads were associated with fighting, ambushes and kidnappings. Meduza notes that foreigners are still better off traveling with a local guide. Afghanistan ranked 11th for terrorism risk in 2026 in the Global Terrorism Index compiled by Australia’s Institute for Economics and Peace, falling outside the top 10 for the first time since the index began.
The report says the Taliban’s chief security threat in the first years after taking power was Islamic State Khorasan Province, or ISIS-K, the group’s Afghan affiliate. U.N. experts estimate ISIS-K has about 2,000 fighters, according to Meduza. The report also cites at least 600 recruits from Central Asian countries, mainly Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, over the past five years. ISIS-K was linked to the March 2024 attack at Crocus City Hall near Moscow, in which 145 people were killed. The security picture remains complicated: improved travel safety is one area of progress, but the militant group continues to pose a threat.
Meduza also reports that the Taliban has pursued a campaign against drugs, particularly opium, which appears to have been successful. The material provided does not give production figures or a specific measurement of the campaign’s results. At the same time, the authorities established a Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice and sharply curtailed women’s rights. The report also describes attempts by the authorities to block internet access nationwide and prevent officials from using smartphones.
Security Gains, Daily Hardship
The report’s central finding is the gap between reduced conflict on major routes and the hardships many people continue to face. Safer travel matters for residents and visitors in a country long shaped by war, but it does not resolve poverty, unemployment or restrictions on women’s participation in public life. The Taliban’s anti-opium campaign may also reshape livelihoods and the drug trade, though the report material here does not quantify those effects.
The account also highlights questions about who benefits from the new political order. Meduza describes a government dominated by Pashtuns and quotes minority residents who say they lack equal rights and opportunities. Those accounts are not a nationwide survey, but they show how security and state control can coexist with unresolved concerns over representation and access to work and public life.
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From Takeover to Taliban Rule
The Taliban seized power in August 2021, after U.S. troops withdrew. Active fighting has since ended, according to the report, but the movement’s rule has brought sweeping social restrictions as well as efforts to enforce its interpretation of Islamic values. Its government was formed in September 2021. Meduza says Russia is the only country to have officially recognized it; the report describes that status as one reason Taliban officials and fighters welcomed the Russian reporter.
Afghanistan remains deeply divided along ethnic and geographic lines, the report says. At least 74% of Afghans live in rural areas or are nomads, while 26% live in cities. Meduza cites Amin, a 31-year-old employee of the nationwide radio station Salam Watandar, describing the country as deeply divided and saying people understand Afghan identity differently. The outlet reports that minority representatives it spoke with described unequal opportunities, while an unnamed Pashtun employee of the Ministry of Information and Culture rejected criticism that the government is not inclusive.
“We remain a deeply divided community, but we are not yet a nation. Everyone understands the word ‘Afghan’ differently.”
— Amin, a 31-year-old Salam Watandar employee, speaking to Meduza
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Limits of the Field Report
The report is based on a visit to three cities and dozens of conversations, not a comprehensive national survey. It does not establish how representative the people interviewed are of Afghanistan’s population, and the source material provides no detailed national economic figures for poverty or unemployment. The scale and distribution of the effects of the opium crackdown are also not quantified here.
Some security measures are estimates or assessments rather than direct counts: the roughly 2,000 ISIS-K fighters figure is attributed to U.N. experts, while the terrorism ranking is an index assessment. The report describes restrictions on women and attempts to limit internet access and smartphone use, but the supplied material does not specify the full scope, timing or enforcement of every measure. It is also not clear how public views of Taliban rule vary across regions and social groups.
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What the Report Leaves Open
The immediate next step is further reporting on how conditions vary beyond the three cities visited and on whether safer roads persist as ISIS-K remains active. More current, comparable data would help establish the scale of poverty and unemployment and measure the consequences of the anti-opium campaign for farmers, workers and the wider economy.
For now, the report offers a field account rather than a forecast or policy announcement. It leaves open whether the Taliban will ease restrictions on women, broaden representation in government, or change its approach to communications access. Those developments—and the ability of independent reporters to document them—will shape how the effects of Taliban rule are understood in the years ahead.
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Key Questions
What is the news in Meduza’s report?
Meduza published a report based on Ruslan Suleymanov’s August 2026 trip to three Afghan cities, assessing conditions five years after the Taliban returned to power.
What changes does the report describe?
It describes relatively safer long-distance travel and an apparently effective Taliban campaign against opium, while also reporting persistent poverty, unemployment and severe restrictions on women’s rights.
Is Afghanistan free of militant threats?
No. Meduza cites U.N. experts estimating that ISIS-K still has about 2,000 fighters. Afghanistan’s 2026 terrorism-risk ranking improved to 11th, but that does not mean the threat has ended.
How broad is the reporting?
The account is based on a visit to three cities and dozens of interviews. It is a field report, not a nationwide survey, and the supplied material does not provide comprehensive economic or drug-production data.
Source: rss
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