The Taliban government celebrated five years of ruling Afghanistan on Saturday, with supporters taking to the streets, while critics decried tightening restrictions in all areas of daily life.
Afghans packed into cars decorated with flags and drove around Kabul on a day that government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said "will be written in golden lines in the history of Afghanistan".
Hundreds gathered around a square beside the former US embassy, while fresh flowers were thrown from military helicopters over a parade of athletes that featured only men because women are banned from sport in Afghanistan.
Taliban fighters took Kabul unopposed on August 15, 2021, after a lightning offensive that swept across Afghanistan, toppling government forces in the wake of the chaotic withdrawal of US-led troops.
Asif Khan Barakzai, a 21-year-old in Kabul, said "with the arrival of the Islamic Emirate, I feel peace, comfort and calmness in Afghanistan", referring to the Taliban administration.
The number of checkpoints was increased on Saturday in the capital, where some of the vehicles abandoned by foreign forces, such as Humvees, were driven in convoy.
Afghans also rallied in other key cities including southern Kandahar, home to the supreme leader, and western Herat where stuntmen performed in the streets, AFP journalists said.
Zia Ahmad Takal, a foreign ministry spokesman, invited countries to "come here, invest, and make extensive use of the available economic opportunities" in Afghanistan.
GDP per capita is in decline, due to more than six million Afghans arriving from neighbouring Iran and Pakistan in three years, while the World Bank estimated real growth reaching 4.8 percent.
'A very intense grief'
Although Taliban officials have forged ties with multiple countries, including in Europe, their government is still only recognised by Russia.
Relations with neighbouring Pakistan have plummeted and the two countries went to war this year, exacerbating the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan when people were already hit hard by international aid cuts.
Some countries have opted to limit their relations with the Taliban authorities until there are changes in Afghanistan, where people are suffering "very real harm" according to the United Nations.
Fiona Frazer, the human rights director for the UN mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), told AFP that people have endured the "consolidation of suffocating restrictions that intrude on almost every aspect of their daily lives, and their human rights".
The Committee to Protect Journalists criticised the authorities' "brutal repression of the press", which has seen media workers "surveilled, detained, beaten, censored, or driven into exile".
Women have been particularly affected by Taliban government measures, being banned from public places including parks and from most jobs, while education for girls beyond age 12 is outlawed.
A woman living in Kabul, who said Taliban insurgents killed her husband before they came to power, said she had a severe headache on Saturday.
"Whenever this month and this time of year arrives, a very intense grief overcomes me," the 35-year-old told AFP.
"I will remain in mourning as long as they are in power."
