KABUL, 10 November 2021, (TON): In the villages that once bore the brunt of Afghanistan’s front-line fighting, the Taliban victory has broken a cycle of air attacks, gun battles and funerals.

The group’s takeover of Kabul and the sudden collapse in August of the United States-backed government shocked the world and upended the freedoms of Afghans, which were particularly enjoyed by the urban middle class.

But away from main cities, where little of the international aid worth billions of dollars ever reached, many believe the Taliban’s rule could bring a stop to the fighting and the hope for an end to corruption.

“I would give everything for the Taliban,” said 72-year-old Maky as she prepared cotton fibre in her hardened hands with a group of other women in Dashtan, a remote farming settlement in northern Balkh province.

“Now there is no sound of shooting. The war is over and we are happy with the Taliban.” A US-led invasion removed the Taliban in 2001, which led to 20 years of military occupation by NATO forces. A democratic government was restored, women were once again allowed to work and study, and a vocal civil society was rebuilt.

But corruption and vote-rigging allegations plagued government institutions, justice was slow and ineffective, and foreign troops were tainted by accusations of colluding with warlords, abusing Afghans and disrespecting local customs. Thousands of civilians were killed or injured each year in attacks by the Taliban and air raids by US-led forces, with progress largely limited to cities as the worst of the war raged in rural areas.

Mohammad Nasir earns 200-300 afghanis ($2-3) a day at a cotton field on the outskirts of the historic town of Balkh, yards from the ninth-century Noh Gonbad Mosque, believed to be Afghanistan’s earliest Islamic building. He weighs the white crop from a scale hanging on a tree, before stuffing it into huge orange bags, ready for collection.