Afghanistan: Briefing and Consultations
On Monday morning (23 June), 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, Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Joyce Msuya, and UN Women Executive Director Sima Sami Bahous are expected to brief. Some regional member states may participate in the meeting under rule 37 of the Council’s provisional rules of procedure. Closed consultations are scheduled to follow the open briefing.
Monday’s session is the Council’s regular quarterly meeting on Afghanistan. The wide range of political, human rights, humanitarian, and socio-economic challenges facing the country are expected to be discussed at the meeting. A likely overarching theme for most speakers will be how to address the Taliban’s restrictive and discriminatory policies, including their impact on women and girls.
Otunbayeva is expected to update members on the next steps in the Doha process, which was launched in May 2023 to advance a political roadmap for more effective and coherent international engagement with the Taliban. On 30 June and 1 July, two working groups—one on counter-narcotics and the other on the private sector—are scheduled to convene in Doha as part of this process. The working groups include subject matter experts and representatives from member states, international organisations (including the UN), the Taliban, and international financial institutions. Council members may be interested in learning more from Otunbayeva about how these working groups can help to address the basic needs of Afghans by, for example, promoting alternative livelihoods given the ban on opium production and developing more transparent commercial governance. Some Council members are likely to underscore the importance of women’s meaningful participation in the Doha process.
Otunbayeva may express concern at the reduction in Afghanistan of mine action activities—which are aimed at reducing the impact of landmines and explosive remnants of war (ERW)—due to funding constraints, while appealing for financial support for this work. The Secretary-General’s most recent report on UNAMA, dated 11 June, warns that mine action coordination in Afghanistan will have to be terminated on 1 July absent such support, leading to “the tragic loss of life, lifelong injuries and trauma, predominantly impacting of children, because of unexploded ordnance”.
Some of the speakers may also highlight the hardship faced by the hundreds of thousands of Afghan migrants returning from Iran and Pakistan in recent months. Msuya may refer to the UN’s efforts to assist the returnees, as they struggle to access basic services and secure housing and employment in Afghanistan, given the country’s limited resources and weak economy. On 20 May, Arafat Jamal, the Afghanistan Representative of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), called on neighbouring countries to “pursue solutions, treat Afghans with dignity, and work regionally to foster safe, voluntary, dignified and sustainable returns”.
Several speakers may underscore the threat of terrorism emanating from Afghanistan. The 6 February 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 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”. At the Council’s latest quarterly meeting on Afghanistan, held on 10 March, several members expressed concern about terrorism in the country, with Pakistan and Russia underscoring the security threat that the presence of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant-Khorasan (ISIL-K)—ISIL’s Afghan affiliate—in Afghanistan poses beyond the country’s borders.
Msuya is expected to update the Council on the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan. According to a 21 May humanitarian update by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), which covers developments in February, 23.7 million Afghans—over half of the country’s population—require humanitarian assistance. Msuya may highlight some of the factors driving this crisis, including fragile government institutions that are not inclusive of women, lack of access to basic services, poverty, and climate shocks. She may appeal for international support to address the country’s humanitarian needs, given significant funding shortfalls this year largely attributable to the US’ decision in April to suspend funding for humanitarian aid in Afghanistan. On 23 April, OCHA announced that it had undertaken “an urgent prioritisation” of the 2025 Afghanistan Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan (HNRP) and revised the financial requirement to $1.62 billion, a 31 percent reduction in the amount called for when the HNRP was first released on 19 December 2024.
Msuya is also expected to update members on the implementation of resolution 2615 of 22 December 2021, which established a humanitarian exception to the 1988 Afghanistan sanctions regime after the Taliban came to power. The resolution requested a semi-annual briefing to the Council on the delivery of humanitarian assistance in Afghanistan, including on any available information regarding payments to or diversion of funds by designated individuals. She may emphasise that the humanitarian exception continues to be an important factor in allowing OCHA to serve vulnerable populations in Afghanistan. (For background on resolution 2615, see our 21 December 2021 What’s in Blue story.)
Bahous and other speakers are expected to call for the equal, full, and meaningful participation of women in Afghan society, and describe the devastating impact that the Taliban’s policies continue to have on the rights of women and girls. Bahous may underscore the importance of centering women’s participation and rights in all diplomatic engagements with the Taliban. She might also call for development and humanitarian assistance to support gender equality goals, and advocate for increased accountability for violations of the rights of women and girls.
Several speakers may express concern at the adverse effects of “the Law on the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice”, which was promulgated by the Taliban in August 2024. On 10 April, UNAMA released a report on the implementation, enforcement, and impact of the law. The report notes that UNAMA has observed systematic and consistent efforts to enforce the law, including the establishment of “provincial implementation committees” in 28 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces and that enforcement has led to infringements of personal and private spaces, public areas, and economic activities for various groups in Afghan society, with women disproportionately impacted.
Council members are likely to express contrasting views about how to support Afghanistan in charting a prosperous and peaceful path forward and developing more inclusive governance. Some members, including the P3 (France, the UK, and the US) and other like-minded states, have previously argued that the Taliban must adhere to international norms in order to obtain international recognition and receive economic and development aid from the international community. Many of them can be expected to reiterate these views on Monday.
China and Russia, on the other hand, may reiterate the perspective that the international community should provide economic and development assistance to Afghanistan without linking it to other issues, such as human rights. They may stress the importance of dialogue and engagement with the Taliban without any increased international pressure. Both members have also repeatedly called for the release of frozen assets belonging to Afghanistan’s central bank, the bulk of which were seized by the US following the Taliban’s takeover in August 2021.
