In yet another disturbing turn of events, the Taliban’s so-called governance in Afghanistan has once again shown its true face—not of reform or reconstruction, but of repression and ruin.
On Tuesday, the streets of Mazar-i-Sharif echoed with anger as hundreds of local traders and residents protested the Taliban’s abrupt and forceful plan to demolish long-standing shops at the city’s auction market. These aren’t just physical structures, they represent decades of labour, livelihoods, and local economic resilience. Yet, in the blink of an eye, they are being torn down, without consultation, without compensation, and without a shred of accountability.
What makes this even more outrageous is that the Taliban have collected taxes from these very businesses for years, only to now destroy them under a redevelopment scheme brokered through a private contract. The irony? These same traders, some of whom have been operating for over 40 years, are being pushed into economic oblivion in the name of “progress.”
But what kind of progress chokes off opportunity, displaces families, and replaces functioning businesses with state-favoured enterprises? The Taliban’s so-called “new commercial market” is not a solution—it’s a symbol of a regime more interested in controlling wealth than creating it.
This latest land-grab is not an isolated incident. Similar property seizures and forced demolitions have taken place in Bamiyan and other provinces. And it all follows a clear pattern: the Taliban are not here to build, but to commandeer, whether it’s land, voices, or lives.
Meanwhile, the regime continues to fail at every level of governance. It has proven utterly incapable of addressing the needs of returning refugees, providing jobs, or even ensuring basic economic opportunities. Instead of creating new spaces for employment and education, it is actively shutting down the few that remain. Add to this the crackdown on journalists, the gagging of independent media, the persecution of women, and the outright ban on girls’ formal and even religious education, and you have a regime retreating further into the darkness it once claimed to have left behind.
Worst of all, Afghanistan under the Taliban remains a breeding ground for more than 20 terrorist groups, according to recent statements from Russian officials. The Taliban are either unwilling or unable to curb these factions, and their presence continues to endanger not just Afghanistan but the entire region.
Cutting fiber-optic internet, banning women from classrooms, and now snatching away the bread and butter of everyday Afghans, this is not governance. It’s rule by fear, by force, and by failure.
The people of Mazar-i-Sharif, like so many others across Afghanistan, are not just protesting demolitions. They are protesting a future that is being ripped out from under them, brick by brick, shop by shop, right before their eyes.
It’s not just the market that is collapsing—it’s the very notion of hope.
