Afghanistan
Expected Council Action
In December, the Security Council will convene for its quarterly open briefing on Afghanistan. Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) Roza Otunbayeva; Ambassador Andrés Montalvo Sosa (Ecuador) in his capacity as the chair of the 1988 Afghanistan Sanctions Committee; an official from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA); and a representative of civil society are expected to brief. Closed consultations are scheduled to follow the briefing.
The Council is also scheduled to renew the mandate of the Monitoring Team assisting the 1988 Afghanistan Sanctions Committee in December.
UNAMA’s mandate expires on 17 March 2025.
Key Recent Developments
Afghanistan continues to grapple with one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world. According to OCHA’s September update, 23.7 million Afghans—approximately half of the country’s population—require humanitarian assistance. Despite the scale of the crisis, the Afghanistan Human Needs and Response Plan for 2024 remains critically under-resourced, with only 40 percent of the required $3.06 billion funded at the time of writing. OCHA’s October update notes that this shortfall has left 3.7 million people without access to healthcare services, impacted emergency housing for those left without shelter following floods and earthquakes, and affected the provision of food assistance.
The human rights situation in Afghanistan also remains dire, particularly for women and girls. UNAMA’s latest report on the human rights situation in the country, which covers July to September and was published on 1 November, notes that the Taliban have continued to impose restrictions on the freedom of movement of Afghan women and to deprive both women and girls of secondary and tertiary education. It also describes steps that Taliban officials have taken to implement the “Law on the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice” since it was ratified in late August, such as sending letters instructing female staff of public hospitals to be accompanied by a male relative when travelling to and from work and deploying officials in different locations to monitor compliance. The Taliban have also continued to carry out public executions and publicly flog individuals accused of committing crimes.
Several UN officials have recently commented on the restrictions imposed on women and girls by the Taliban. On 23 September, Secretary-General António Guterres demanded that the Taliban “remove all discriminatory restrictions against women and girls immediately”. In an 11 October statement marking the International Day of the Girl, Otunbayeva called on the Taliban to reverse their ban on educating girls over the age of 12, saying that “as each day passes, even greater damage is being done to the lives of women and girls. Afghanistan is being taken backwards, not forwards, in its quest for peace, recovery, and prosperity”.
In late September, Australia, Canada, Germany and the Netherlands announced that they had taken formal steps to call on Afghanistan to cease violating the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). On 26 September, 22 additional member states issued a joint statement expressing support for the initiative, which is being pursued under Article 29 of CEDAW. Pursuant to this provision, any dispute between parties to CEDAW regarding the interpretation or application of the Convention that is not settled by negotiation shall be submitted to arbitration and, if the parties cannot agree on the organisation of that arbitration within six months, they may refer it to the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
Against this backdrop, the Taliban have continued to pursue greater engagement and closer relations with the international community. On 10 October, Uzbekistan accepted the credentials of a Taliban-appointed ambassador, becoming the third country to do so after China and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Taliban officials have reportedly agreed on a “cooperation roadmap” with Kazakhstan aimed at boosting economic relations and increasing trade, and have also sought to participate in a recent BRICS summit and reiterated their interest in joining China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
Representatives of the Taliban attended the 29th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29) in Baku, Azerbaijan from 11 to 22 November. The conference marked the first occasion that Taliban officials have participated in UN climate talks since August 2021, when the group returned to power.
On 3 September, Guterres announced the appointment of Georgette Gagnon as his new Deputy Special Representative (Political) for Afghanistan.
Human-Rights Related Developments
In a 1 November statement, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan Richard Bennett warned that “the lack of a strong, cohesive response from the international community has already emboldened the Taliban”. He expressed deep concern about shrinking civic space; the situation of minorities, journalists, former government and security officials, judges, and lawyers in Afghanistan; the use of corporal and capital punishments; and credible allegations of sexual violence. He also urged the international community to adopt and implement a comprehensive human rights-centred action plan for managing the situation in Afghanistan.
In his latest report covering developments from January to August 2024, Bennett noted that the Taliban have “further entrenched and intensified their institutionalised system of gender oppression and exclusion of women and girls”, repressed civil society and the media, and disregarded principles of justice, non-discrimination, equality and the rule of law. The report calls on the Taliban to reverse their policies and practices that violate Afghanistan’s international obligations and urges states to ensure that normalisation of engagement with the Taliban is based on measurable and independently verified improvements in human rights. It also recommends that member states support the codification of gender apartheid as a crime against humanity.
Key Issues and Options
The Taliban’s ongoing refusal to adhere to many of Afghanistan’s international obligations, especially those concerning women and girls, is a major issue for the Council and directly undermines the recommendations set out in the report of the independent assessment on Afghanistan requested by resolution 2679 and the related Doha format. (For more information on the independent assessment, see our 27 November 2023, 8 December 2023, and 28 December 2023 What’s in Blue stories.) Council members could decide to hold a closed Arria-formula meeting with a representative of the Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (DPPA) to receive an update on the independent assessment process and discuss possible next steps in light of the Taliban’s actions. Such a meeting could also give members an opportunity to ask questions about the working groups on the private sector and counter-narcotics that participants in the third Doha meeting agreed to establish. At the time of writing, it appears that the working group on counter-narcotics is scheduled to begin work shortly.
Extending the mandate of the Monitoring Team assisting the 1988 Afghanistan Sanctions Committee is another issue for Council members. The Council could choose to extend the mandate for another year without making any substantive changes, as it has generally done in recent years. The Council could also consider reviewing the 1988 Afghanistan sanctions regime more broadly. Apart from the humanitarian exception established by resolution 2615, the regime has not been updated since the Taliban seized power in August 2021. Such a review could analyse whether the regime is fit for purpose and whether it needs to be updated in light of current circumstances.
The threat of terrorism emanating from Afghanistan remains an issue. According to the latest report of the Monitoring Team assisting the 1267/1989/2253 Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Da’esh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee, which was issued on 22 July, there is heightened concern among member states regarding the threat posed by terrorist groups based in Afghanistan, particularly the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant-Khorasan (ISIL-K)—ISIL’s Afghan affiliate—and Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Council members could hold an informal meeting with a counter-terrorism expert, which would give members a chance to discuss possible options for bolstering the Council’s efforts to manage this threat.
Council Dynamics
While Council members are generally united in their desire to see a prosperous, peaceful Afghanistan free from terrorism and ruled by an inclusive government, they have been divided over how to achieve this goal.
Some members, including the P3 (France, the UK, and the US) and other like-minded states, have argued that the Taliban must adhere to international norms if they want to obtain international recognition and receive economic and development aid from the international community. Several of these members appear to favour maintaining pressure on the Taliban, particularly regarding their policies and practices that violate the rights of women and girls.
China and Russia, on the other hand, have contended that the international community should provide assistance to Afghanistan without linking it to other issues, such as human rights, and appear to prefer dialogue and engagement with the Taliban without any increased pressure. China has sent an ambassador to Kabul and, on 30 January, became the first country to accept diplomatic credentials from a Taliban envoy. Beijing has emphasised, however, that it has not officially recognised the Taliban regime as Afghanistan’s government. The Taliban recently attended the sixth meeting of the Moscow format consultations on Afghanistan in Russia, where Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held a separate meeting with Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi. Russia has also reportedly decided to remove the Taliban from its list of designated terrorist organisations and has called on western countries to lift relevant sanctions.
The divisions among Council members were on display in late August when Japan, the penholder on the file, circulated a draft press statement criticising the “Law on the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice”. While the draft press statement was supported by a majority of members, it was blocked by China and Russia. In opposing the draft, both members apparently made several arguments, including that the law was an internal matter that was still being studied by UNAMA, that women’s rights had already been mentioned in several Council products and that other issues also required attention, and that the press statement could jeopardise future engagement between the international community and the Taliban.
There are also different viewpoints among Council members regarding the implementation of the independent assessment on Afghanistan. China and Russia have emphasised the importance of taking the Taliban’s views on the independent assessment into account and have questioned the added value of a UN Special Envoy. Other members, including the UK and the US, have previously expressed support for the recommendations of the independent assessment, including the appointment of a UN Special Envoy.
| Security Council Resolutions | |
| 16 March 2023S/RES/2679 | This resolution requested that the Secretary-General conduct and provide an independent assessment on Afghanistan. |
| 27 April 2023S/RES/2681 | This resolution condemned the ban on Afghan women working for the UN and called on the Taliban to swiftly reverse the policies and practices that restrict the human rights and fundamental freedoms of women and girls, among other matters. |
| 29 December 2023S/RES/2721 | This resolution, among other matters, requested the Secretary-General to appoint a Special Envoy on Afghanistan in consultation with a range of stakeholders, welcomed the Secretary-General’s intention to convene the next meeting of the group of Special Envoys and Special Representatives on Afghanistan, and encouraged the meeting to discuss the recommendations of the independent assessment on Afghanistan. |
| 17 March 2024S/RES/2727 | This resolution extended the mandate of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) until 17 March 2025. |
