United Nations Engagement with Afghanistan’s De Facto Authorities Seeks to Address, Not Normalize, Restrictive, Discriminatory Policies, Top Officials Tell Security Council
Highlighting Afghanistan’s newly promulgated discriminatory law on the “propagation of virtue and prevention of vice”, senior United Nations officials briefed the Council today on continuing engagement with its de facto authorities without accepting their restrictive policies as normal.
Roza Otunbayeva, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Afghanistan and Head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), detailed the Organization’s “Comprehensive Approach” in that country, which “does not seek to normalize the status quo, but rather ensure that multiple key issues of concern — in particular upholding the country’s international obligations — remain at the core of engagement efforts”, she said.
The Comprehensive Approach aims to maintain open channels for discussion on women’s and human rights, as well as the de facto authorities’ grievances regarding frozen assets, sanctions and the need for development assistance. In a few days in Doha, the UN is convening meetings of the working groups on counternarcotics and the private sector, she reported.
“The de facto authorities have provided relative stability and security, promoted modest economic growth and foreign investment, initiated dormant infrastructure projects and deepened their diplomatic ties abroad, especially within the region. But, they also continue to implement highly restrictive and discriminatory policies on the Afghan people,” she said, such as the “law on the propagation of virtue and prevention of vice”, which impacts the human rights of all Afghans, especially women and minorities.
Ban on Girls’ Higher Education ‘Clearest Sign’ of Taliban’s Discrimination against Women
“The ongoing ban on girls’ education beyond the primary level is the clearest sign of the Taliban’s discrimination against women and continues to set Afghanistan apart from the world,” she stressed, adding that, in May, dozens of UNAMA’s female national staff were subjected to explicit death threats. Further, regional countries remain concerned about the presence of Islamic State in Khorasan Province (ISIL-K), while the conflict between Israel and Iran is increasing prices and prompting the return of Afghans from Iran.
Half the country’s population requires humanitarian assistance, said Joyce Msuya, Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator. “While words often fall short, the numbers speak with clarity,” she said. One in five Afghans is hungry, 3.5 million children are acutely malnourished, and an estimated 3.7 million children are out of school — including 2.2 million girls over the age of 11, who remain banned from education. Over 600,000 Afghans have returned from Iran and Pakistan this year, including many women, even as resources are stretched to the breaking point. Kabul risks becoming the first city in modern times to run out of water.
Funding Cuts Severely Hampering Desperately Needed Humanitarian Assistance
She went on to describe how funding cuts are severely hampering the humanitarian response, reporting that 420 health facilities have been forced shut, depriving more than 3 million Afghans of life-saving health services. As of mid-year, the humanitarian response plan is less than 21 per cent funded, leaving a $1.9 billion gap. “Cuts have had a particular impact on support to women,” she lamented, spotlighting three urgent appeals: Strengthen the implementation of the ‘humanitarian exception’ in Council resolution 2615 (2021); support the resilience of Afghan communities by increasing investments in agriculture, health systems and other vital services; and fund humanitarian work.
Afghanistan Is Home to One of World’s Widest, Fastest-Growing Gender Gaps
Sima Sami Bahous, Executive Director of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women), said the recent escalation in the Middle East will deepen the hardships faced by Afghan women and girls. She also outlined the grim trajectory within the country that is making Afghanistan “home to one of the widest and fastest-growing gender gaps in the world”. Repression has “calcified into structure and law”, she said, noting the “legal and bureaucratic barriers” that make it harder than ever to hire women aid workers. Her organization has been navigating these, including by providing for separate facilities and male chaperones.
“Afghan women continue to lead the way,” she said, noting that have “opened underground schools, organized in silence, built lives in those slivers of space left to them”. But, hundreds of clinics have closed, midwives report a rise in maternal death and teenage pregnancies are on the rise. “Some girls now pray to fail their exams, simply to remain in school a little longer,” she said, while Afghan boys are growing up in a system that teaches them women are inferior.
She outlined four recommendations — first, in all engagements with the Taliban, the international community must not unintentionally support or normalize its discriminatory policies. Also urging the Council to support ongoing accountability efforts, she suggested that its Committee established pursuant to Council resolution 1988 (2011) could convene a session on violations of women's rights in Afghanistan and consider expanding its listing criteria to include those violations. Calling also on donors to commit resources, she underscored the need to invest in digital literacy for Afghan women and girls because it is often their only way to access education. “Afghan women have not given up — nor can we,” she underscored.
UN-Drafted ‘Mosaic Approach’ Lacks Genuine Afghan Ownership
In the ensuing discussion, speakers expressed a range of differences on how to engage with the Taliban. The representative of Afghanistan — who represents its previous administration — stated that the UN-drafted “mosaic approach” lacks genuine Afghan ownership. While the Taliban’s demands — including formal recognition, the unfreezing of assets and sanctions relief — are clear and time-bound, the international community’s expectations on human rights, inclusivity and governance remain vague and unenforceable. “This asymmetry risks normalizing Taliban rule without meaningful reform or accountability,” he warned, calling for the appointment of a UN Special Envoy. Highlighting key principles that must ground future deliberations, he said it is vital to ensure a participatory process that also includes non-Taliban Afghan stakeholders and defines clear, measurable and time-bound benchmarks for Taliban compliance.
Failing to Yield Results, United States Policy on Afghanistan under Review
The United States’ policy on Afghanistan is under review, that country’s delegate said, adding that its approach in the last four years has failed to yield results. For the new administration, “protecting our citizens, including mitigating terrorist threats and securing the release of all detained Americans, are our top priorities,” she said. For decades, her country sacrificed American lives and billions of dollars to support the people of Afghanistan, but “it is now time for the Taliban to perform”, she said, underscoring: “It is in our mutual interest to ensure that Afghanistan never again harbours terrorists, doesn’t engage in hostage diplomacy and is a net contributor to regional stability.”
Delegates Cite Their Positions on UN-Led Process
The United Kingdom’s representative added that his country’s continued engagement in the UN-led process — “in which the Taliban are not fully committed and remain unwilling to take meaningful steps towards meeting their international obligations — is not guaranteed”.
But, the representative of the Republic of Korea, a participant in the Doha process, called on Member States to renew their political commitment to this UN-led initiative. “Sequencing and pairing reciprocal steps between Afghanistan and the international community will be a difficult undertaking,” he acknowledged, expressing the hope that ongoing regional economic engagements with Afghanistan remain compatible with and create synergy along the process.
Qatar’s delegate highlighted her country’s mediating role in hosting that process, while India’s delegate said his country has been an active participant in the two UNAMA working groups on counternarcotics and enabling private sector in Afghanistan and looked forward to the upcoming Doha meetings on those.
China’s speaker, recalling a recent meeting among the Foreign Ministers of his country, Afghanistan and Pakistan, said the international community must maintain the momentum of dialogue with the interim Government. Expressing support for UNAMA’s mosaic model and the Doha meetings, he said the Council must make timely adjustments to the 1988 sanctions regime and called on countries concerned to return Afghanistan’s overseas assets and lift their unilateral sanctions.
The representative of the Russian Federation said that Afghanistan’s de facto authorities are focusing on rebuilding the country’s socioeconomic potential. However, he acknowledged, given the challenges accumulated over 20 years of conflict — compounded by the disorderly withdrawal of the United States and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) forces — it will be difficult for the country to quickly transition to a path of independent development. The Afghan people need “sustained and non-politicized” support — “any pressure or blackmail is a road to nowhere”, he emphasized.
Speakers Echo Call for Women’s Participation in All Political Processes
Several speakers echoed the briefers’ call for ensuring women’s participation in all political processes, while condemning the ban on their secondary education. Guyana’s delegate, Council President for June, speaking in her national capacity, as well as for Sierra Leone, Somalia and Algeria, noted that “Afghanistan remains the only country in the world where girls and women are systematically barred from secondary and higher education”.
“Nothing seems too small for the Taliban regime to control,” Denmark’s delegate observed, adding that its policies seem to affect every aspect of life — from playing chess to singing. “This is particularly true for women and girls,” she said, adding that normalization of engagement with the Taliban must be based on demonstrated, measurable and independently verified improvements in human rights, especially for women and girls. Slovenia’s representative pointed out that the exclusion of women and girls from education and employment affects not only their rights, but also “deprives families of their income, deepens their poverty and triggers or contributes to forced migration”.
France’s delegate also expressed concern about the alarming deterioration in the human rights situation and the persecution of Afghan women and girls, the closure of schools for more than three years and the restrictions on their freedom of movement. There has been “no notable progress in the implementation of the Council’s asks”, he added.
Focus on Terrorist Threat
Iran’s representative, however, dismissed Western claims about supporting Afghan women and girls as empty words. He pointed to the hypocrisy of the United States, the United Kingdom and France in not expressing any concern about the dire impact of Israeli and United States aggression against his country, including the millions of Afghan refugees it hosts. “Iran cannot shoulder this burden alone,” he said, asking for international support. He also warned that ISIS elements — especially those with Central Asian nationality — could transfer from Syria into Afghanistan, deepening insecurity across the region.
Other speakers from the region and beyond highlighted the terrorism threat, with Pakistan’s representative noting that the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan — with about 6,000 fighters — is the largest UN-designated terrorist group based in Afghanistan. It maintains safe havens near his country’s border, he said, detailing Pakistan’s efforts to neutralize that threat. The representatives of Panama and Greece also called for a coordinated response to terrorism, with the former reiterating that the protection of UN personnel is an absolute and non-negotiable priority.