Afghanistan: Quarterly Meeting*
On Monday afternoon (10 March), the Security Council will convene for an open briefing on Afghanistan. Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) Roza Otunbayeva and a representative of Afghan civil society are expected to brief. Several regional member states are expected to participate in the meeting under rule 37 of the Council’s provisional rules of procedure. Closed consultations are scheduled to follow the open briefing.
Denmark, the president of the Council in March and a signatory to the Shared Commitments on Women, Peace and Security (WPS), has indicated that the meeting will have a WPS focus. At the time of writing, the signatories to the Shared Commitments were finalising a joint statement to be read at a stakeout prior to the meeting.*
Monday’s meeting will be the first opportunity for new Council members Denmark, Greece, Pakistan, Panama, and Somalia to deliver statements on Afghanistan since joining the Council in January. It will also feature the first US statement on the file since President Donald Trump took office on 20 January.
Otunbayeva is likely to update Council members on the situation of women and girls in Afghanistan. The Secretary-General’s latest report on UNAMA, which was circulated to Council members on 21 February and covers developments since 6 December 2024 (S/2025/109), mentions several recent Taliban edicts and the effect that they have had on the rights of women and girls. It notes that enforcement of the “Law on the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice”, which was promulgated in August 2024, has disproportionately impacted women and further constrained their freedom of movement and access to essential services. The report also discusses the Taliban’s December 2024 ban on women and girls attending medical institutes, describing it as “discriminatory and contrary to the international human rights obligations of Afghanistan” and noting that it will further restrict women and girls’ access to healthcare by reducing the number of female health workers. In discussing this issue, some Council members are expected to call for the immediate reversal of the policies and practices of the Taliban that violate the human rights of women and girls and urge the Taliban to comply with Afghanistan’s international obligations.
The humanitarian situation in the country is also likely to be discussed during Monday’s meeting. Afghanistan is currently experiencing one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world, with 22.9 million Afghans—over half of the country’s population—in need of humanitarian assistance. Despite the scale of this crisis, Taliban interference with humanitarian aid continues to be reported. According to the Secretary-General’s report, humanitarian access in Afghanistan has been hindered by interference in aid activities; restrictions on movement, particularly for women and girls; and attacks on aid workers. Efforts to respond to the humanitarian crisis also remain underfunded. The Secretary-General’s report expresses concern regarding the “dramatic decrease” in humanitarian funding for Afghanistan and calls on the international community to “remain steadfast” in providing support for the humanitarian and basic needs of Afghans. In their statements on Monday, several members are likely to highlight the importance of unhindered humanitarian access, especially for women and girls and other vulnerable members of Afghan society. Certain members may also call for increased contributions from humanitarian donors, while some might be interested in hearing more about the possible effects of the Trump administration’s efforts to curtail US foreign aid.
Council members are also expected to discuss the Afghanistan independent assessment requested by resolution 2679 of 16 March 2023 and the related Doha process. (Among other matters, the independent assessment outlined an “architecture for engagement” to guide political, humanitarian, and development activities in Afghanistan. For background on the independent assessment and the Doha process, see our 27 November 2023, 8 December 2023, 28 December 2023, and 25 February 2024 What’s in Blue stories and our June 2024 and September 2024 Monthly Forecasts.) Although several members are likely to express support for the independent assessment and its recommendations, some might contend that the Taliban’s actions in recent months, such as the promulgation of the “Law on the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice”, have directly contradicted some of those recommendations and undermined the confidence of the international community. Members may also be interested in receiving an update from Otunbayeva on the working groups on the private sector and counter-narcotics that form part of the Doha process and the roadmap for political engagement referred to in the independent assessment. The Secretary-General’s report indicates that the UN Secretariat and UNAMA are currently developing this roadmap, and it seems that an initial draft was circulated to participants in the Doha process in February.
The threat posed by terrorism in Afghanistan is another likely topic of discussion. The Secretary-General’s report says that the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant-Khorasan (ISIL-K)—ISIL’s Afghan affiliate—carried out six attacks in Afghanistan during the reporting period, including a suicide bombing that killed Taliban Minister of Refugees and Repatriation Khalil Ur-Rahman Haqqani and another attack that killed a Chinese national. More broadly, the 6 February report of the Monitoring Team assisting the 1267/1989/2253 ISIL/Da’esh Sanctions Committee notes that there are more than two dozen terrorist groups operating in Afghanistan and says that these groups pose “a serious challenge to the stability of the country, as well as to the security of Central Asian and other neighbouring states”. During Monday’s meeting, some Council members are expected to express concern regarding the terrorist threat in Afghanistan and call on the Taliban to do more to curtail the activity of terrorist groups.
Council members are also expected to discuss the frozen assets belonging to Afghanistan’s central bank. Some members are likely to call for the release of these assets and argue that they are critical to efforts to restore Afghanistan’s economy. Members may be interested in the US’ position on this issue in light of the 31 January report of the US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, which argued that the Taliban has no legal right to these assets and suggested that the Trump administration could consider returning approximately $4 billion earmarked for Afghanistan to the “custody and control of the US government”.
Some members might ask Otunbayeva about the ongoing tensions between Pakistan and the Taliban. The Secretary-General’s report notes that there were six armed incidents involving Pakistani and Taliban security forces during the reporting period, including Pakistani airstrikes on suspected Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) positions in Paktika Province that killed at least 45 civilians and cross-border exchanges of fire that also impacted civilians. The situation appears to have continued to escalate since the report was issued, with reports of clashes between the two sides at the Torkham crossing, the main border crossing between the countries, emerging in recent days. Some members might also raise the situation of Afghan refugees in Pakistan, particularly after Pakistani officials recently threatened to deport those awaiting relocation if their cases are not processed quickly by potential host states. According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), deportations of Afghan nationals from Pakistan almost doubled in February compared to the previous month.
Members may also express concern about the effects of climate change and environmental degradation in Afghanistan. In discussing this issue, some members may highlight that the Secretary-General’s report says that Afghanistan’s water supply is facing critical challenges that are being compounded by climate change.
Council members are currently negotiating a draft resolution on the renewal of UNAMA’s mandate, which expires on 17 March. It seems that members generally agree that the mission’s mandate is sufficiently robust and that there is no need to make changes to its priorities and tasks, however differences have apparently emerged in relation to preambular language on certain issues, such as development aid and frozen assets. The negotiations have also been complicated by a disagreement among Council members regarding penholdership of the Afghanistan file. (For more information, see our March Monthly Forecast.) In their statements on Monday, several members are expected to express support for UNAMA and the renewal of its mandate.
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**Post-script (10 March): Prior to the open briefing, nine signatories to the Shared Commitments on Women Peace and Security (WPS)—Denmark, France, Greece, Guyana, Panama, the Republic of Korea (ROK), Sierra Leone, Slovenia, and the UK—delivered a joint statement on WPS in Afghanistan. The US, which signed on to the Shared Commitments in July 2023, did not participate in the joint statement. During negotiations, the US apparently objected to language that other members of the Shared Commitments initiative believed essential to the joint statement, such as references to gender-based violence, gender persecution, freedom of expression, and freedom of movement, as well as language on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).
