(KABUL) — It’s exactly one year since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan’s capital of Kabul, barring most women from having jobs, and all girls from seeking more than a sixth grade education.

While the militants are celebrating what they call “Independence Day” on the streets of Kabul, a small group of women were protesting in the streets. Some were beaten by the Taliban for doing so.

ABC News Chief Foreign Correspondent Ian Pannell sat down with Abdul Qahar Balkhi, a Taliban spokesman, who denies women and girls are being oppressed.

“Women are being given their rights… each society interprets rights of human beings, men, women, children, neighbors, the planet, animals, differently,” he claims.

Pannell reports that more than 90% of Afghans no longer have enough to eat. He says one year after America’s withdrawal lapsed into chaos Afghanistan is isolated, sadder and hungrier than ever.

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