In the mid-1990s, U.S. oil company Unocal attempted to secure a gas-pipeline deal with the Taliban, which had seized control of the Afghan capital, Kabul, after a devastating civil war.

It was the United States' first attempt to forge a partnership with the fundamentalist Taliban regime, which was not recognized by the international community.

Unocal even flew senior Taliban members to Texas in 1997 in an attempt to come to an agreement.

Zalmay Khalilzad, who had served as a State Department official when Ronald Reagan was president, worked as a consultant for the now-defunct company.

Khalilzad, who met with the Taliban members in the city of Houston, publicly voiced support for the radical Islamists at the time. The "Taliban does not practice the anti-U.S. style of fundamentalism practiced by Iran -- it is closer to the Saudi model," Khalilzad wrote in a 1996 op-ed for The Washington Post. "The group upholds a mix of traditional Pashtun values and an orthodox interpretation of Islam."

Negotiations over the pipeline collapsed in 1998, when Al-Qaeda bombed two U.S. embassies in Africa. By then, the terrorist group, led by Osama bin Laden, had relocated from Sudan to Afghanistan, where it was offered safe harbor by the Taliban.

Suddenly, the Taliban went from a potential U.S. economic partner to an international pariah that was hit by U.S. sanctions and air strikes.

Three years later, the United States invaded Afghanistan and toppled the Taliban regime after Al-Qaeda carried out the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania that killed nearly 3,000 people.

But now, after waging a deadly, nearly 19-year insurgency that has killed several thousand U.S. troops, the Taliban has regained its status as a potential U.S. partner.

On February 29, the United States and the Taliban signed an agreement aimed at ending the United States' longest military action. The deal lays out a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan in return for various security commitments from the insurgents and a pledge to hold talks over a political settlement with the Afghan government -- which it so far has refused to do.

The deal -- signed before a bevy of international officials and diplomats in Doha, Qatar -- has given the Taliban what it has craved for years: international legitimacy and recognition.

Meanwhile, the agreement has undermined the internationally recognized government in Kabul, which was not a party to the accord.

The architect of the deal was Khalilzad, the U.S. special peace envoy for Afghanistan, who secured a deal following 18 months of grueling negotiations with the militants in Qatar. The Afghan-born Khalilzad had served as the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan and Iraq in the intervening years since working as a Unocal adviser.

"There's a 20-year bell curve, from 1998 to 2018, when the Taliban went from partner to peak pariah and now back to partner," says Ted Callahan, a security expert on Afghanistan. But the "changes that have occurred have been less within the Taliban movement and more based on U.S. instrumentalism and war fatigue."

The extremist group's transformation to a potential U.S. ally was considered unthinkable until recently.

During its brutal rule from 1996 to 2001, the Taliban oppressed women, massacred ethnic and religious minorities, and harbored Al-Qaeda.

Since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001, the Taliban has killed tens of thousands of Afghan civilians, fueled the illicit opium trade, and sheltered several terrorist groups.

"U.S. officials are selling the Taliban as a partner when it is anything but," says Bill Roggio, a senior fellow at a Washington-based think tank, the Foundation for Defense Of Democracies, and editor of the Long War Journal. "This is a fiction made up by U.S. officials who are desperate for a deal that will cover the military withdrawal from Afghanistan."

Radicalized In Pakistan

The Taliban, which means "students" in Pashto, emerged in 1994 in northwestern Pakistan following the end of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.

The predominantly ethnic Pashtun group first appeared in ultraconservative Islamic madrasahs, or religious schools, in Pakistan, where millions of Afghans had fled as refugees. Funded by Saudi Arabia, the madrasahs radicalized thousands of Afghans who joined the mujahedin, the U.S.-backed Islamist rebels who fought the Soviets.

The Taliban first appeared in the southern city of Kandahar, Afghanistan's second-largest city, in 1994, two years after the mujahedin seized power in the country. Infighting among mujahedin factions fueled a devastating civil war that killed more than 100,000 people in Kabul.

The Taliban promised to restore security and enforce its ultraconservative brand of Islam. It captured Kabul in 1996 and two years later controlled some 90 percent of the country.

Neighboring Pakistan is widely credited with forming the Taliban, an allegation it has long denied. Islamabad was among only three countries -- including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates -- to recognize the Taliban regime when it ruled Afghanistan.

The Taliban was led by its spiritual leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, the reclusive, one-eyed cleric who was a mujahedin. Omar died of natural causes at a hospital in Pakistan in 2013, with the group's leadership covering up his death for two years. He was believed to be leading the Afghan Taliban insurgency from within Pakistan.

War-weary Afghans initially welcomed the Taliban, which cracked down on corruption and lawlessness and brought stability across much of the country.

But the welcome was short-lived. The religious zealots enforced strict edicts based on their extreme interpretation of Shari'a law -- banning TV and music, forcing men to pray and grow beards, making women cover themselves from head to toe, and preventing women and girls from working or going to school.

The Taliban amputated the hands of thieves, publicly flogged people for drinking alcohol, and stoned to death those who engage in adultery. Executions were common.

Besides its notorious treatment of women, the Taliban also attracted international condemnation when in 2001 it demolished the 1,500-year-old Buddhas of Bamiyan, in central Afghanistan, a testament to the country's pre-Islamic history and a treasured, unique world cultural monument.

'We Were All Scared'

Orzala Nemat is a leading women's rights activist in Afghanistan. Under Taliban rule, she risked her life by creating a network of underground girls schools across the country. Classes were held secretly in living rooms, tents, and abandoned buildings. The teachers were often older girls or educated women.

Girls attending the classes would often come in twos to avoid suspicion and carry a Koran, Islam's holy book, in case they were stopped by the Taliban.

"We were all scared," says Nemat, who now heads a leading Kabul think tank. "They would probably flog us, put us in prison, and punish us [if we were caught]."

Under the Taliban, Isaq Ahmadi earned a living by playing soccer for one of the dozen teams created and funded by various Taliban leaders in Kabul. While the Taliban banned many sports and other forms of public entertainment, soccer and cricket thrived.

"It was a very difficult and dark time," he says. "There were no jobs, food shortages, and no public services."

During Taliban rule, the United Nations said 7.5 million Afghans faced starvation. Even then, the Taliban restricted the presence of aid groups in Afghanistan.

The Taliban regime generated most of its money from Islamic taxes on citizens and handouts from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, its only allies. The Taliban failed to provide basic needs and Kabul lay in tatters after the brutal civil war of 1992-96.

U.S.-Led Invasion

The Taliban attracted the world's attention after the September 11 attacks on the United States. The regime had harbored bin Laden and other Al-Qaeda leaders responsible for the terrorist attacks. But the Taliban steadfastly refused to hand over Al-Qaeda leaders for prosecution and, in October 2001, the United States invaded Afghanistan.

By December, the Taliban regime was toppled with help from the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance. Most Taliban leaders, including Al-Qaeda founder bin Laden, evaded capture and resettled in Pakistan's tribal areas and the southwestern city of Quetta, where its leadership is still based.

By 2005, the Taliban had reorganized and unleashed a deadly insurgency against foreign troops and the new democratically elected government in Kabul. Despite U.S.-led surges in troops and an escalation in air strikes, international and Afghan forces were unable to stop the Taliban from extending its influence in the vast countryside.

The Taliban enjoyed safe havens and backing from Pakistan, a claim Islamabad has denied. The insurgency was also funded by the billions of dollars the group made from the illicit opium trade.

Today, the militants control or contest more territory -- around half of the country -- than at any other time since 2001.

Meanwhile, the Kabul government is unpopular, corrupt, bitterly divided, and heavily dependent on foreign assistance. Government forces have suffered devastatingly high numbers of casualties against the Taliban.

Negotiating An End To War

In the fall of 2010, U.S. officials secretly met a young Taliban representative outside the southern German city of Munich. It was the first time the Taliban and the United States showed they were open to talks over a negotiated end to the war.

But in the intervening years, meaningful U.S.-Taliban talks failed to take off, hampered by mutual distrust, missed opportunities, protests by the Afghan government, and the deaths of two successive Taliban leaders.

For years, U.S. policy was to facilitate an Afghan-led, Afghan-owned peace process between the Kabul government and the Taliban. But with the Taliban refusing to negotiate with state officials -- whom they view as illegitimate -- the peace process was deadlocked.

Controversially, U.S. policy changed in 2018 when Khalilzad was appointed as special envoy for peace and he opened direct negotiations with the Taliban in Qatar without the presence of the Afghan government. Eighteen months later, the sides signed the landmark deal aimed at ending the war.

"The U.S. has been sidelining the Afghan government for years, first by refusing to allow it to be involved with negotiations, then by signing the deal without the Afghan government as a partner," Roggio says.

"The Taliban maintains the Afghan government is merely a 'puppet' of the U.S," he adds. "The U.S. has done everything in its power to prove this point."

Road Map For Afghanistan

The prospect of the Taliban returning to the fold as part of a future power-sharing agreement has fueled angst among Afghans, many of whom consider the militants to be terrorists and remember the strict, backward societal rules they enforced when they were in power.

More than 85 percent of Afghans have no sympathy for the Taliban, according to the Asia Foundation's 2019 survey. Urban respondents (88.6 percent) were more inclined than rural respondents (83.9 percent) to have no sympathy for the militants.

But the Taliban's adherence to ultraconservative Islam and the Pashtun tribal code has struck a chord with some currently living under the movement's thumb in rural Afghanistan, which has borne the brunt of the war and where life has improved little. But those ideas are largely alien in major urban centers that have witnessed major social, economic, and democratic gains over the past 18 years.

"The main difference is that the Taliban of today, like Afghans generally, are more worldly in terms of their exposure to media, their increased engagement with various international actors and, at least for the leadership, the greater wealth they command, both individually and as a movement," Callahan says.

But the Taliban's "fundamental approach to governing, which is very maximalist and involves the imposition of a uniform moral order, stands in stark contrast to the more liberal norms that have evolved since 2001, mainly in urban areas."

Since the fall of the Taliban in 2001, millions of girls have gone to school and continue to study, women have joined the workforce in meaningful numbers, and dozens of women are members of parliament and work in the government or diplomatic corps.

Afghanistan also has a thriving independent media scene in an area of the world where press freedoms are severely limited. Under the Taliban, all forms of independently reported news were banned.

There was only state-owned radio, the Taliban's Voice of Sharia, which was dominated by calls to prayer and religious teachings.

The independent media have come under constant attack and pressure from the Taliban and Islamic State militants, which have killed dozens of reporters. The attacks have made Afghanistan one of the deadliest countries in the world for journalists.

The Taliban has been projecting itself as a more moderate force, pledging not to monopolize power in Afghanistan. But few believe that the militants have changed.

"There is little difference between the Taliban of 1994 and the Taliban of today," Roggio says. "If anything, the group has become more sophisticated in its communications and negotiations. Its ideology has not changed. Its leadership has naturally changed with the deaths of its leaders [over the years], but this hasn't changed how it operates."

Red Lines

The Taliban has said it will protect women's rights, but only if they don't violate Islam or Afghan values, suggesting it will curtail some of the fragile freedoms gained by women in the past two decades.

Many Afghan women fear that their rights enshrined in the constitution will be given away as part of a peace settlement with the Taliban. The constitution guarantees the same rights to women as men, although in practice women still face heavy discrimination in society, particularly in rural areas.

But the Taliban has demanded a new constitution based on "Islamic principles," prompting concern among Afghan rights campaigners. As an Islamic republic, Afghanistan's laws and constitution are based on Islam, although there are more liberal and democratic elements within it.

Farahnaz Forotan launched an online campaign, #MyRedLine, in March 2018. Hundreds of thousands of Afghan women have joined the campaign to speak about the freedoms and rights they are not willing to give up in the name of peace with the Taliban.

Forotan, a journalist, says she wanted to let Afghan decision-makers know that peace cannot be achieved at the expense of the rights and freedoms of the country's women.

"Almost everything has changed from that time," she says, referring to Taliban rule. "We have made a lot of progress. We have a civil society, an independent press, and freedoms. People are more aware of their social and political rights."

Many Afghans support a negotiated end to the decades-old war in Afghanistan, but not at any price.

"I support the peace process with the Taliban, but only if women's freedoms are safeguarded," says Ekram, a high-school student from the northern city of Mazar-e Sharif, a relatively peaceful and prosperous region near the border with Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan.

"Under no circumstances do we want a peace deal that sacrifices our freedoms and democracy," Ekram says. "That wouldn't be peace at all."

Russia’s Supreme Court removed Afghanistan's militant Taliban rulers from its list of banned terrorist groups in a step toward recognizing the group that seized power in 2021 as international forces withdrew from the war-torn country.

Russian state news agencies said that in its ruling on April 17, the Supreme Court sided with a petition from the Prosecutor-General's Office, a sign the move is a coordinated policy change with support from top legal and political authorities, who designated the Taliban as a terrorist organization more than 20 years ago.

The suspension of the terrorist designation does not amount to full diplomatic recognition of the Taliban government.

Amid poverty and unrest in the country, the Taliban rulers have made moves to open ties with the rest of the world. But Western nations have been reluctant to engage with the extremist group amid complaints of widespread human rights violations, especially against girls and women.

Russia has not officially recognized the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, nor has it re-established ambassadorial-level relations. However, the April 17 ruling may lay the legal groundwork for expanded cooperation, investment, and potentially future recognition.

Russia officially banned the Taliban in 2003, aligning itself with international counterterrorism standards and reflecting concerns over jihadist movements in Central Asia and Russia's North Caucasus region.

Still, Russia has been one of the few major powers to keep its embassy in Kabul operational during the Taliban regime.

Russian diplomats, intelligence officials, and even business interests have since engaged with Taliban authorities — especially on regional security, counter-narcotics, and economic cooperation, such as potential mining and energy projects.

Russia Looking To Gain Influence

With Moscow eager to strengthen its influence in Central Asia amid growing competition with the West and China’s expanding footprint, Afghanistan has become a critical piece of the regional chessboard.

The court’s decision may also be linked to Moscow’s concerns about the Islamic State–Khorasan group, which has claimed responsibility for several high-profile attacks in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and even within Russia itself — including the deadly Crocus City Hall terrorist attack in March 2024.

Some analysts say Russian officials likely view the Taliban as a lesser evil or even a potential security partner.

The suspension of the ban may spark unease in Central Asian countries such as Tajikistan, which has historically viewed the Taliban with deep suspicion.

While some regional governments have engaged with Kabul out of necessity, fears remain about Taliban-inspired radicalization, border security, and cross-border militancy.

In September 2024, Kyrgyzstan removed the Taliban from its list of banned terrorist organizations, aligning with similar moves by neighboring Kazakhstan earlier that year.

Another Central Asian nation, Uzbekistan, has been at the forefront of engaging with the Taliban, emphasizing economic cooperation and regional connectivity.

China is also cautiously increasing its engagement with the Taliban, including through infrastructure and investment talks under the Belt and Road Initiative.

The Taliban carried out public executions of four individuals on April 11 -- the highest single-day number since it returned to power -- prompting a wave of condemnation from groups around the world.

Local Taliban officials confirmed that the individuals — who were accused of murder — were executed in front of crowds gathered in the western provinces of Farah, Nimroz, and Badghis.

Eyewitnesses at one of the sites, who spoke to RFE/RL's Radio Azadi on condition of anonymity, said family members of the victims shot the accused.

"Their families offered blood money to spare their relatives' lives, but the victims' relatives refused. People here don't fully understand these issues — this kind of event leaves a serious psychological impact," the person said.

In Nimroz province, the Taliban invited civilians, civil servants, and military personnel to witness the execution at a stadium in Zaranj.

"The man was shot by the victim’s family. Watching this scene was unbearable. No one wants to witness a killing, even if it is declared a divine punishment," said one local resident.

The executions, part of the Taliban’s hardline interpretation of Islamic law, are described by the regime as "qisas," or retributive justice.

Since they seized power in August 2021, the Taliban have resumed corporal punishments and public executions, echoing their repressive rule of the 1990s. So far, at least 10 individuals have been publicly executed.

Rights organizations say these punishments are a clear violation of international law.

They say the use of executions as a public spectacle is not only inhumane but also contributes to a culture of fear and trauma in communities already scarred by decades of war and violence.

In a statement posted on X, Amnesty International condemned the executions, calling them "deplorable."

"Afghanistan: The deplorable public executions of four people in Nimroz, Farah and Badghis in Afghanistan today point to Taliban’s continued alarming abuse of human rights in the country. The Taliban de facto authorities continue to flagrantly flout human rights principles," it said.

"The international community must put pressure on the Taliban to stop this blatant human rights abuse and help ensure international guarantees are upheld in Afghanistan."

The Taliban claim that the executions followed "transparent investigations and justice procedures," but the United Nations and multiple human rights bodies have consistently disputed such assertions, citing the absence of a functioning judicial system and lack of due process in Taliban courts.

"We are appalled by executions of four men in the Badghis, Nimroz and Farah provinces this morning," the United Nations rights office said on X, urging "the de facto authorities in Afghanistan to place a moratorium on the use of the death penalty."

Thousands of Afghan refugees in Pakistan have left via the Torkham border crossing as part of Islamabad's large-scale deportation campaign.

The government initially set a March 31 deadline for Afghan nationals to leave voluntarily, but the deadline was extended to April 10. Still, thousands have been forcibly removed since the beginning of the month.

The stepped-up deportation campaign comes as Pakistani authorities charge that "illegal immigrants" pose security concerns and economic challenges.

The Pakistani government has frequently linked Afghan nationals to militant violence and criminal activity -- claims the Taliban-led administration in Kabul firmly denies.

The deportation campaign has sparked strong criticism as authorities move forward with the controversial policy.

Human rights organizations warn that those forced to return to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan may face serious dangers including persecution, violence, and extreme economic hardship. Particularly at risk are vulnerable groups such as women, journalists, human rights advocates, and former government employees.

Pakistan's deportation drive targets Afghan Citizen Card (ACC) holders, undocumented migrants, and those who arrived after the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan.

There are roughly 800,000 ACC holders and 1.4 million Afghans with Proof of Registration (POR) cards issued by the UN refugee agency. While POR holders are currently exempt from deportation -- at least until their permits expire in June -- ACC holders lack such protection. Their temporary residency in Pakistan is subject to the federal government's discretion, with no assurance of extension beyond official deadlines.

This policy creates complications, as members of the same family may have different legal statuses.

Many of those being forced to leave have never lived in Afghanistan and see Pakistan as their only home.

Pakistan’s plan to deport millions of Afghan migrants has drawn sharp criticism as the country begins implementing its controversial policy.

Rights groups warn that many returnees face severe risks in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, including persecution, violence, and economic hardship. Vulnerable individuals such as women, journalists, human rights defenders, and former government officials are particularly at risk.

The government had initially set March 31 as the deadline for Afghan migrants to leave voluntarily or face deportation. However, the deadline was postponed until April 10 due to the Eid al-Fitr holidays marking the end of Ramadan, officials said.

The delay provides a brief reprieve for tens of thousands of Afghans but does not alter the government’s goal of expelling up to 3 million migrants by the end of the year.

Meanwhile, around 40,000 Afghans in Pakistan await uncertain resettlement to third countries, mostly in the West. Many fled after the Taliban’s 2021 return, fearing retribution due to ties with the United States, NATO, and other Western organizations.

Who Is Being Deported?

The deportation campaign targets Afghan Citizen Card (ACC) holders, undocumented individuals, and those who arrived after the Taliban’s return to power.

There are around 800,000 ACC card holders and 1.4 million Afghans who have been issued Proof of Registration (POR) cards by the UN refugee agency. POR card holders are not yet being deported, Pakistani officials say, as their permits expire in June.

ACC holders are granted temporary permission to reside in Pakistan, but the validity and duration of their stay are determined by the federal government. Unlike POR cardholders, ACC holders do not have guaranteed protections against deportation beyond the government’s specified deadlines.

This poses another problem, as members of the same family can hold different immigration statuses.

That’s the case for Rehmat Khan, a man in his 50s who is facing immediate deportation because he is an ACC card holder, while the other members of his family are POR card holders.

“I don’t know how I can leave my family behind, and I don’t know who will support them when I am deported to Afghanistan,” he told RFE/RL’s Radio Mashaal.

Rehmat Khan is one of approximately 20,000 Afghans who live in Jalala refugee camp, some 150 kilometers northwest of Islamabad. Residents of the camp have been formally notified to prepare to leave.

Most of the Afghans in the camp are descendants of refugees who migrated to Pakistan after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. Many are in their 30s, meaning they have never lived in Afghanistan and consider Pakistan their home.

The camp functions as a small village, with several schools, houses mostly made of mud, and a makeshift bazaar.

“I am in 11th grade. Sending me back to Afghanistan at this point in the school year will ruin my future,” a student who asked to remain anonymous for security reasons told Radio Mashaal. “There are no educational opportunities there, and I am unfamiliar with the education system. I was born and raised here, and I know this place better than Afghanistan.”

A holding camp to process the relocation of refugees has been established in Landi Kotal in Peshawar, where Frontier Corps paramilitary forces and local police are deployed.

While no refugees are currently housed in the camp, officials expect an influx of families in the coming days as the repatriation process gains momentum.

Rights Groups Alarmed by ‘Cruel’ Deadline

The United Nations has expressed alarm over the plan, warning that some people would be at risk once in Afghanistan.

“We urge Pakistan to continue to provide safety to Afghans at risk, irrespective of their documentation status,” said Philippa Candler, UNHCR's country representative, said in a statement on February 5, when the initial deadline was set.

Amnesty International has also condemned the deportations, calling them a violation of international human rights law.

“The Pakistani government’s unyielding and cruel deadline to remove Afghan refugees shows little respect for international human rights law, particularly the principle of non-refoulement,” Amnesty’s deputy regional director for South Asia, Isabelle Lassee, said on March 26.

She added that portraying Afghan refugees as a threat is “disingenuous” and scapegoats a community that has fled persecution.

Despite mounting criticism, Pakistani officials defend the policy as necessary for national security and resource management.

The Pakistani government has often blamed militant violence and criminal activity on Afghan citizens, allegations rejected by the extremist Taliban-led government in Kabul.

More than 800,000 Afghans who fled Afghanistan after the Taliban’s takeover in 2021 live without papers in neighboring Pakistan.

These undocumented Afghan refugees and migrants face a rapidly approaching deportation order issued by Islamabad requiring them to leave the country by March 31.

Another 1.4 million Afghans who are formally registered with the Pakistani government and who hold a Proof of Residence card issued by the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) have until June 30 to return to their homeland. Many have lived in Pakistan for decades.

The fate of an additional 40,000 Afghans who are waiting to be resettled to third countries, mostly in the West, is unclear.

Pakistan initially said these at-risk Afghans, a group that includes activists, journalists, and former members of the defunct Western-backed Afghan government and its armed forces, must leave or face deportation by March 31. But a source at the Pakistani Interior Ministry told RFE/RL’s Radio Mashaal that the deadline for them to leave the country has been extended to June 30.

Among this group are some 15,000 Afghans who are waiting to be resettled in the United States, although their status remains unclear after President Donald Trump's administration announced that the US Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) would be suspended for at least three months starting on January 27.

“We are left in a deep despair,” said Hina, a 25-year-old Afghan woman who lives with her family in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar.

Her family had been cleared for resettlement in the United States and even booked their flights from Islamabad. But now they are in limbo.

“Our dreams of building a safe future [in the United States] have been shattered,” added Hina. “We can’t return to Afghanistan where our lives will be at risk, nor can we build a stable life in Pakistan.”

Growing Fears

Pakistan has already forcibly deported more than 800,000 undocumented Afghans since 2023, when it launched a major crackdown, according to the UN.

The deportees have returned to a country gripped by devastating humanitarian and economic crises, and many have struggled to access shelter, health care, and food and water.

The deportations have coincided with tensions soaring between the unrecognized Taliban government in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Islamabad has accused the Taliban of sheltering Pakistani militants, a claim rejected by the Afghan militant group.

Ahead of the March 31 deadline, Pakistani police conducted night raids and arbitrarily detained and arrested hundreds of Afghan refugees in the capital, Islamabad, and the nearby city of Rawalpindi, according to international rights groups.

Videos shared on social media show Pakistani police using loudspeakers to order undocumented Afghans to leave Islamabad.

"The problem is that our children go to school here and we have jobs here,” Obaidullah, an undocumented Afghan refugee living in Peshawar, told RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi. “What will we do in Afghanistan?”

Dire Situation

The tens of thousands of Afghans who are awaiting resettlement abroad face a race against time.

Many of them are in a dire financial situation in Pakistan, said Maiwand Alami, who leads an NGO to help Afghan refugees in Islamabad.

“They have sold their homes in Afghanistan, but that money has since run out,” Alami told RFE/RL. “But [their] biggest problem is uncertainty about their immigration cases. Everybody is anxious about it.”

“Afghans in Pakistan are now required to extend their stay every month. It costs 20,000 rupees [about $71] per person which is a lot of money here, especially if you don’t have any income,” Alami said.

The resettlement of Afghans to the West is uncertain amid increasingly anti-migrant sentiment across Europe and the United States.

Trump said the United States “lacks the ability to absorb large numbers of migrants, and in particular, refugees into its communities in a manner that does not compromise the availability of resources for Americans.”

He ordered the suspension of USRAP “until such time as the further entry into the United States of refugees aligns with the interests of the United States.”

An American woman has been released by the Taliban rulers in Afghanistan after being detained since February, the second freeing of a US citizen in the past eight days.

In a video posted by US President Donald Trump on March 29, Faye Hall said she had been released by the Taliban after being detained in the war-torn country last month.

"I've never been so proud to be an American citizen," Hall said in the video. "Thank you, Mr President…God bless you."

Trump thanked Hall for the comments and added: "So honored with your words!"

Former U.S. Special Representative to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad first announced the release hours earlier on X, saying it had occurred on March 27. He said she was in the care of the Qatari delegation in Kabul.

"American citizen Faye Hall, just released by the Taliban, is now in the care of our friends, the Qataris in Kabul, and will soon be on her way home," said Khalilzad, who has been part of a US team seeking the release of hostages held by the Taliban.

The development came a week after George Glezmann, 66, was released from detention in Kabul following the first visit by a senior US official to Afghanistan since the Taliban seized power in the wake of the withdrawal of international troops in August 2021.

Hall had been detained in February while with a British couple in their 70s, Barbie and Peter Reynolds.

British media said the Reynolds had been operating school projects in Afghanistan for 18 years and had remained in the country despite the Taliban’s return to power.

Reuters quoted a US official as saying Adam Boehler, Washington's special envoy for hostage affairs, had worked with Qatari officials and others to win Hall’s release.

There was no immediate information on the British couple. Their daughter has pleaded for their release, citing health concerns.

Several Americans are still detained in Afghanistan.

Upon his release, Glezmann also thanked Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and others who helped free him.

He told Fox News he was abducted in the streets of Kabul and thrown "into a dungeon with no windows no nothing."

Two other Americans held in Afghanistan were exchanged in late January for a Taliban man imprisoned for life in California on drug and terrorism charges.

Ryan Corbett and William McKenty were swapped for Khan Mohammed, who was sentenced to two life terms in 2008 and was incarcerated in a US prison.

Aid worker Corbett, 40, and Mahmood Habibi, 37 -- who led the Afghan Aviation Authority under the previous Afghan government -- were detained separately in August 2022.

The world community has not recognized the Taliban as the legitimate rulers of Afghanistan, although some countries -- including Russia, China, and Turkey -- still maintain embassies in Kabul.

Qatar has also maintained direct contact with the Taliban and has helped broker negotiations for the release of US hostages.

Amid poverty and unrest in the country, the Taliban rulers have made moves to open ties with the rest of the world. Western nations are reluctant to engage with the extremist group amid complaints of widespread human rights violations, especially against girls and women.

With reporting by RFE/RL's Radio Azadi, Reuters, AFP, and AP

The new school year started in Afghanistan on March 22, but for the fourth consecutive year, millions of teenage girls were barred from attending classes.

Among them was Khalida, who was in the ninth grade when the Taliban seized power and banned education for girls above 12 years old.

“The ban has had a big impact on my life,” Khalida, now 18, told RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi. “I used to spend all my time on my studies. Now my time passes aimlessly.”

The school ban has had a catastrophic impact on an estimated 2.2 million girls in Afghanistan, where the Taliban has erased women from public life and severely restricted their fundamental rights.

There has been a surge in forced, early, and child marriages. Child marriages have increased by around 25 percent since the Taliban takeover, according to the UN.

The lack of educational and professional prospects for women has fueled a rise in female suicides, making the country one of the few in the world where more women take their own lives than men.

"The lack of access to education not only threatens our future but also hinders our country from progress and development,” said another teenage Afghan girl, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution.

“We have the right to study, progress, and have a bright future," she told Radio Azadi.

UNICEF, the UN's children's agency, said the repercussions of the school ban will last for generations.

“The ban negatively impacts the health system, the economy, and the future of the nation,” UNICEF said in a March 22 statement.

“With fewer girls receiving an education, girls face a higher risk of child marriage with negative repercussions on their well-being and health.”

The agency warned that over 4 million girls will be out of school if the ban lasts until 2030.

Calls To Do More

Senior UN officials and Afghan female activists have termed the Taliban’s treatment of Afghan girls and women as “gender apartheid.”

They have called for the international community to put more pressure on the Taliban to reverse its ban on education for girls beyond the sixth grade.

No country has recognized the Taliban’s government, which is under international sanctions. But a growing number of countries, including some in the West, are cooperating with its government on trade, security-related issues, and immigration.

"The Taliban still go around and travel freely,” said Pashtana Durrani, a prominent Afghan education activist who lives in exile.

“They give interviews. They have bank accounts. Their families live abroad yet they have banned Afghan women from getting an education.”

She added: “The international community should be asked whether they truly want the Taliban to open girls’ schools or not?”

For over three years, Syed Abdul Samad Muzoon, a middle-aged former Afghan security official, has lived with his wife and their teenage daughter in Pakistan to pursue immigration to the United States.

During Washington’s nearly two-decade-long war in Afghanistan, he worked for the Afghan security forces in sensitive roles, he said, helping the US war effort.

Yet, there is still no clarity on whether they will ever be able to make a fresh start in the United States because of new curbs on immigration.

In January, hundreds of Afghans cleared for resettlement in the United States were prevented from traveling to the country after President Donald Trump immediately suspended Washington’s refugee program and foreign aid after assuming office on January 20.

On February 18, Reuters reported that the State Department's program to manage Afghan resettlement in the United States will be shut down in April.

Media reports suggest that the Trump administration could impose a new travel ban to bar the entry of people from Afghanistan and Pakistan, which would close all pathways for Afghans to move to the United States.

The State Department, however, disputes this. “There is no list,” Tammy Bruce, its spokesperson, told journalists on March 17.

Trump has been elected twice on an anti-immigration platform. In a Gallup poll from 2024, a majority of Americans (55 percent) said that they believed there should be less immigration to the United States.

Since the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021, Washington has helped some 200,000 Afghans resettle.

But Muzoon and many more Afghans might never have a chance to begin a new life in the United States. Tens of thousands of them have been living in Pakistan, Qatar, Albania, and other countries for years as they wait for a final decision on their refugee and immigration cases. Fearing retribution by the Taliban, many are fearful of returning to Afghanistan.

'Extreme Predicament'

Advocacy groups estimate that up to 200,000 more Afghans may be eligible for US immigration. Meanwhile, after reviewing government documents, CBS reported that more than 40,000 Afghans who have already been cleared to leave the country are now stranded.

“I and other Afghan refugees here are in an extreme predicament,” Muzoon said.

Since late 2023, Pakistan has expelled more than 800,000 Afghans, and in the capital, Islamabad, Afghans face constant harassment and police brutality.

Muzoon and 20,000 more Afghans in Islamabad now fear repatriation to Afghanistan after the Pakistani government announced it would forcefully deport some 1.5 million documented and undocumented Afghans if they fail to leave by the end of this month.

“I am suffering from the uncertainty and the seemingly endless wait for our cases,” he said.

Muzoon said threats to his life and family prompted him to flee Afghanistan soon after the Taliban seized the Afghan capital, Kabul, on August 15, 2021, as it toppled the pro-western Afghan republic.

He is among more than half a million Afghans, mostly educated professionals and officials who were integral to running the Afghan republic, who fled the Taliban’s takeover.

Most feared being persecuted for working with the US-led international forces in Afghanistan. Others were senior officials in the Afghan government or worked in the civil society sector.

Three years on, those still waiting for a decision on their US immigration are stuck.

“We are living in extreme despair,” said Maiwand Alami Afghan. He leads an informal association of Afghan refugees in Islamabad.

'Hanging By A Thread'

He said most families in Islamabad sold their properties and belongings in Afghanistan, but that money is now running out.

“Most of us are hanging by a thread,” he said.

Afghan said he had worked for US-funded development projects, which, he fears, makes it impossible for him to return to Afghanistan because the Taliban have persecuted some Afghans associated with the US presence in the country.

“We will still be refugees in our own country, because we don’t have a house, job, or any prospects to earn a livelihood,” he said.

Washington, however, does not look like it will be welcoming any more migrants. During his election campaign, President Trump promised stricter controls on immigration.

In his speech to Congress on March 4, Trump said his administration “has launched the most sweeping border and immigration crackdown in American history.”

Steps taken by Trump after taking office have effectively blocked or suspended the two primary routes for Afghans to immigrate to the United States.

Under the Special Immigration Visa (SIV), Afghans who worked directly for the US government, such as embassy staff or translators for its forces, qualify for relocation. Afghans granted visas under this program can still relocate to the US without financial assistance from Washington, according to Afghans seeking relocation under the program.

“Those who have assisted us and worked with us, that’s been a policy and a dynamic that we’ve worked on from certainly even the previous administration, working to try to get that happening,” said Bruce, the State Department spokesperson.

The refugee program, which enabled former Afghan government officials, lawmakers, and civil society figures to immigrate to the US, is suspended for the next couple of months.

However, the suspension of the State Department's Afghan resettlement program has rattled Americans involved in or supporting the initiative.

“Right now, there's a lot of uncertainty,” said Shawn VanDiver, head of the Afghan Evacuation Association, a coalition of US veterans and advocacy groups that support Afghan resettlement.

'Nothing But Problems And Worries'

VanDiver is now lobbying the US Congress to remove the “complete stop” Trump’s executive orders have put on Afghan resettlement. He says that Congress had authorized Afghan resettlement through December 2027.

“President Trump needs to listen to the voices,” he said, pointing to the bipartisan support in Congress, veterans and service members, who want the immigration of Afghans to continue.

In a statement on March 18, the Afghan Evacuation Association said the ambiguity surrounding the immigration of Afghans “is unnecessary and cruel”. It called on Washington to provide “clear and unequivocal answers” to its wartime Afghan allies.

In media statements and letters, scores of lawmakers have urged President Trump to “fully restore humanitarian and refugee protections for our Afghan allies.”

Several courts across the United States are hearing cases regarding refugee and foreign aid suspensions. Some have issued injunctions against Trump’s executive orders.

A State Department spokesperson, speaking on condition of anonymity, said, “At this time, no decisions have been made” about its Afghan relocation program.

The spokesman said the department is “considering” the future of its Afghan relocation program, officially called Enduring Welcome and the Office of the Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts (CARE).

The spokesperson noted that it “continues to provide life-sustaining support to Afghan allies and partners previously relocated to our overseas case-processing platforms.”

In Islamabad, Muzoon has little understanding of how his future will unfold amid the domestic US wrangling over the fate of Afghans seeking immigration to the country.

He hopes to avoid being deported back to Afghanistan. He wants to move to the United States to send his daughter to school, treat his wife’s depression, and seek some treatment for his heart ailment.

“I have nothing but problems and worries,” he said.

The UN children’s agency has urged Afghanistan’s Taliban-led government to immediately lift a ban on girls' education beyond primary school, saying that if the ban continues until 2030 more than 4 million girls will have been deprived of their right to education.

Afghanistan's ban on girls' secondary education "continues to harm the future of millions of Afghan girls," UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said in a statement on March 22. “The consequences for these girls -- and for Afghanistan -- are catastrophic.”

The appeal by UNICEF comes as a new school year began in Afghanistan, where girls beyond sixth grade have been deprived of their right to education since the Taliban returned to power in 2021.

The Taliban justifies the ban, saying the education of girls beyond the sixth grade doesn't comply with their interpretation of Shari’a law.

Russell called for all girls to be allowed to return to school.

“Afghanistan is the only country in the world that bans female secondary and higher education,” Russell said in the statement, adding that if the rights of young girls continue to be denied, “the repercussions will last for generations.”

She pointed out that the ban negatively impacts the health system, the economy, and the future of the nation.

“With fewer girls receiving an education, girls face a higher risk of child marriage with negative repercussions on their well-being and health,” she said.

The consequences of the ban will affect the number of female doctors and midwives, and this in turn will leave women and girls without crucial medical care.

UNICEF projects an estimated 1,600 additional maternal deaths and over 3,500 infant deaths because of the situation.

The Taliban has allowed limited exceptions to the ban in the health and education sectors, but these jobs come with severe restrictions and the number of women in the workforce continues to fall, according to the United Nations.

Pakistan hosted a global conference in January at which Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai condemned the state of women’s and girls' rights in Afghanistan as gender apartheid.

Yousafzai urged Muslim leaders not to "legitimize" the Taliban-led government and instead to "raise their voices" and "use [their] power" against the militant group's curbs on women and girls' education.

"Simply put, the Taliban do not see women as human beings. They cloak their crimes in cultural and religious justification," Yousafzai told the gathering in Islamabad.

With reporting by AP

George Glezmann, an American who was released from detention in Afghanistan on March 20, has arrived in the United States and been reunited with his wife, a State Department spokesperson said.

Spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said on March 21 that Ryan Corbett, another former American prisoner in Afghanistan who had been held in the same cell as Glezmann, was in a welcoming party for Glezmann at Joint Base Andrews outside Washington.

"After a brief ceremony, George and [his wife] Aleksandra flew to another location in the United States to rest and recover," Bruce told reporters at a regular State Department news briefing.

Glezmann, 66, was released from detention in Kabul following the first visit by a senior US official to Afghanistan since the Taliban seized power in the wake of the withdrawal of international troops from the war-torn country in August 2021.

Former US special envoy for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad said on X that he and Adam Boehler, a senior adviser at the Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs, met with Taliban officials in Kabul on March 20.

"We succeeded in obtaining the release of an American citizen, George Glezmann, after two years in detention in Kabul. The Taliban government agreed to free him as a goodwill gesture to [President Donald Trump] and the American people," Khalilzad said.

Details of the negotiations were not revealed. The United States, like most countries, does not recognize the Taliban as the legitimate rulers of Afghanistan.

“I feel like born again,” Glezmann said on Fox News after arriving at Joint Base Andrews. “I’m just thankful. I’ve got no word to express my gratitude for my liberty for my freedom.”

Glezmann also thanked President Donald Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and others who helped free him, he said on Fox News, recalling how he was abducted in the streets of Kabul and thrown "into a dungeon with no windows no nothing."

Boehler told Fox News he expects to see more Americans released.

“The Taliban understand that there is a new sheriff in town. That president Trump is that new sheriff and that’s why you are seeing something like this," he said.

One of the other US citizens being held in Afghanistan is Mahmood Habibi, who also has been held since 2022.

Glezmann, an airline mechanic from Atlanta, was taken into custody by Taliban authorities while on a tourist visit to Afghanistan in December 2022 and had been deemed wrongfully detained by the US government.

Rubio called Glezmann's release "a positive and constructive step" that was aided by officials in Qatar, which has often hosted negotiations between Washington and the Taliban.

"It is also a reminder that other Americans are still detained in Afghanistan," he added.

The release comes two months after two other Americans held in Afghanistan were exchanged for a Taliban man imprisoned for life in California on drug and terrorism charges.

Ryan Corbett and William McKenty were swapped for Khan Mohammed, who was sentenced to two life terms in 2008 and was incarcerated in a US prison.

Aid worker Corbett, 40, and Habibi, 37 -- who led the Afghan Aviation Authority under the previous Afghan government -- were detained separately in August 2022.

Millions of Afghans in Iran face an uncertain future as Tehran prepares to implement sweeping restrictions that will cut off access to health care, education, housing, and other essential services for undocumented immigrants.

The new policy, set to take effect on March 21, has left many Afghans grappling with impossible choices between a hostile host country and an unstable homeland.

For Rasheed, an Afghan immigrant living in Iran, the consequences of these policies have already hit home.

Rasheed recently returned to Afghanistan after doctors in Iran refused to treat his elderly mother for her heart disease.

“I was told to return to Afghanistan because Afghans were not supposed to get any treatment here,” Rasheed recalled of his conversation with an official at a government hospital in Tehran.

“My mother’s condition was rapidly deteriorating, which prompted me to return to my country,” he told RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi. Rasheed requested that his real name be withheld to protect his identity.

In Karaj, a city near Tehran, Ehsan Zia, another Afghan immigrant, is devastated that his two teenage daughters can no longer attend school.

“Our hopes have been dashed,” he told Radio Azadi. “Even here, my daughters are being deprived of education.”

Zia moved to Iran three years ago after the Taliban banned teenage girls from attending school following their return to power in Afghanistan in August 2021. Despite having a legal visa to stay in Iran, Zia says he has been unable to enroll his daughters in school due to bureaucratic obstacles and shifting policies.

Who Will Be Affected By The New Policy?

Earlier this month, the Center for Aliens and Foreign Immigrants’ Affairs (CAFIA) at Iran’s Interior Ministry announced six categories of Afghans who will remain eligible for key services under the new rules.

These include Afghans registered as refugees, those with valid visas or work permits, former employees of the Western-backed Afghan government that was toppled by the Taliban, and families with school-going children who apply for visas.

Tehran has already deported more than 2 million Afghans over the past two years as part of a campaign targeting undocumented immigrants.

Nader Yarahmadi, head of CAFIA, defended the government’s move, telling the semiofficial ISNA news agency that “there is no obstacle to returning [to Afghanistan] due to the relative stability and declared policies of the current Afghan government.”

The United Nations' refugee agency, UNHCR, estimates that that some 4 million Afghans live in Iran, including more than 2 million undocumented migrants. Figures cited by Iranian officials and media vary widely, with some claiming that 8 million Afghans reside in Iran.

Risking Tensions With The Taliban

The crackdown on undocumented Afghans has coincided with rising anti-Afghan sentiment in Iran. Impoverished Afghan migrants are often scapegoated for crimes, insecurity, and unemployment. Such views have fueled mob violence against Afghans as well as mass arrests and brutal treatment by Iranian police and border security forces.

“Cutting off basic services to migrants will disrupt the labor market and drive more people into the underground economy,” said Graeme Smith, senior Afghanistan analyst at the Brussels-based International Crisis Group.

Afghan migrants make up a significant portion of Iran’s labor force in agriculture and construction -- sectors that could suffer if undocumented workers are expelled en masse.

Smith also warned that Tehran’s policies could worsen tensions between Iran and Afghanistan. The Taliban government has already clashed with neighboring Pakistan over its treatment of Afghan refugees.

“The Taliban may feel provoked to respond, for example, with restrictions on water sharing,” Smith said, referring to a long-standing dispute over water rights.

Experts argue that Tehran’s approach could backfire, both economically and geopolitically. An isolated and heavily sanctioned Iran needs stable relations with Afghanistan’s Taliban government to expand trade ties, maintain border security, and build a more integrated regional economy.

“Not only will this cause suffering for the Afghans affected,” Smith noted, “but it’s a self-defeating policy for Tehran.”

US citizen George Glezmann has been released from detention in Kabul following the first visit by a senior US official to Afghanistan since the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in the wake of the withdrawal of international troops from the war-torn country in August 2021.

Former U.S. special envoy for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad said in a post on X that after he and Adam Boehler, a senior adviser at the Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs, met with Taliban officials on March 20, the 66-year-old Glezmann was "on his way home to his family."

"We succeeded in obtaining the release of an American citizen, George Glezmann, after two years in detention in Kabul. The Taliban government agreed to free him as a goodwill gesture to [President Donald Trump] and the American people," Khalilzad said.

Details of the negotiations were not revealed. The United States, like most countries, does not recognize the Taliban as the legitimate rulers of Afghanistan.

No mention was made of another US citizen being held by the Taliban, George Mahmood Habibi, who also has been held in Afghanistan since 2022.

Glezmann, an airline mechanic from Atlanta, was taken into custody by Taliban authorities while on a tourist visit to Afghanistan in December 2022 and had been deemed wrongfully detained by the US government.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio later confirmed the release, calling it "a positive and constructive step" that was aided by officials in Qatar, which has often hosted negotiations between Washington and the Taliban.

"It is also a reminder that other Americans are still detained in Afghanistan," he added.

The release comes two months after two other Americans held in Afghanistan were exchanged for a Taliban man imprisoned for life in California on drug and terrorism charges.

Ryan Corbett and William McKenty were swapped for Khan Mohammed, who was sentenced to two life terms in 2008 and was incarcerated in a US prison.

Aid worker Corbett, 40, and Habibi, 37 -- who led the Afghan Aviation Authority under the previous Afghan government -- were detained separately in August 2022.