Afghanistan: Quarterly Meeting
Tomorrow morning (17 September), 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 civil society representative are expected to brief. (Otunbayeva’s briefing will be her last to the Council before her term finishes later this month.) Several regional member states are also 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.
At the time of writing, nine of the ten 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—were negotiating a joint statement to be read at a stakeout prior to the meeting. The US, which signed on to the Shared Commitments on WPS in 2023, apparently indicated that it would neither participate in the negotiations nor join the stakeout shortly after the first draft was circulated.
A series of devastating earthquakes struck eastern Afghanistan between 31 August and 4 September, further exacerbating the already dire humanitarian crisis in the country. According to Taliban officials, almost 500,000 people in Kunar, Laghman, and Nangarhar provinces were directly impacted, with at least 2,200 people killed and thousands more injured. These figures are likely to rise as humanitarian actors gain access to more quake-affected villages, many of which are located in difficult to access areas.
Efforts to deliver humanitarian aid to communities affected by the earthquakes have reportedly been hampered by funding shortfalls. In a 5 September statement, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Tom Fletcher described the earthquakes as “the latest crisis to expose the cost of shrinking resources on vital humanitarian work”, noting that previous funding cuts have led to a reduction in health and nutrition services, grounding of aircraft used to access remote areas, and a smaller footprint for aid agencies in Afghanistan. On 9 September, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) launched an emergency response plan calling for $139.6 million in funding for the humanitarian response to the earthquakes for the remainder of 2025.
The humanitarian response has also been complicated by the policies and practices of the Taliban, including steps taken by Taliban officials in recent weeks to enforce the ban on Afghan women working for the UN, which was first announced in April 2023. On 7 September, Taliban security forces prevented female Afghan UN staff members from entering UN compounds in Kabul, a restriction that was later extended to UN field offices around the country. In an 11 September statement, UNAMA announced that it had also received reports of Taliban security forces attempting to stop female Afghan UN staff from travelling to field locations, including those set up in response to the recent earthquakes, saying that the ongoing delivery of humanitarian assistance in earthquake-affected areas is now “at serious risk”. The statement further noted that the Taliban’s actions “disregard previously communicated arrangements” that have allowed the UN to deliver assistance in Afghanistan “through a culturally sensitive and principled approach ensuring the delivery of assistance by women, for women”.
At tomorrow’s meeting, Council members may express support for the communities impacted by the recent earthquakes. Some members are expected to highlight the importance of safe and unhindered humanitarian access, especially for Afghan women and girls, and call for the delivery of urgent assistance in line with humanitarian principles. Members could choose to condemn the Taliban’s efforts to enforce the ban on Afghan women working for the UN and refer to resolution 2681 of 27 April 2023, which condemned the initial decision to introduce the ban, called for the reversal of the Taliban’s policies and practices that restrict women and girls’ enjoyment of their human rights and fundamental freedoms, and reiterated the Council’s demand for full, rapid, safe, and unhindered humanitarian access for the personnel of UN agencies and their partners regardless of gender. (For more information on resolution 2681, see our 27 April 2023 What’s in Blue story.) Members are also likely to be interested in hearing from Otunbayeva regarding the impact of the Taliban’s recent actions on the UN’s work in Afghanistan and engagement between the UN and the Taliban in relation to the ban.
The ongoing expulsion of Afghans from neighbouring countries is expected to be discussed during tomorrow’s meeting. According to the Secretary-General’s latest report on Afghanistan, which was circulated to Council members on 5 September, just over 1.6 million Afghans have returned to Afghanistan from Iran and Pakistan in 2025, some of whom have experienced harassment, detention, and extortion following their return. The report calls on member states to uphold international protection obligations, such as the principle of non-refoulement, and ensure that returns are voluntary, safe, dignified and accompanied by sustained support. Some members may convey similar messages in their statements tomorrow. Members could raise concerns over how the ban on Afghan women working for the UN might affect how returning Afghans are treated, particularly after the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) announced that it has been forced to close its encashment centres in Afghanistan as a result of the ban.
Council members are also likely to focus on other ways in which the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan are curtailed. The Secretary-General’s report notes that the Taliban has continued to implement “the Law on the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice”, including by requiring women to be accompanied by a male relative in public, enforcing strict dress codes, and closing beauty salons that had been operating in secret. In discussing this issue, some members are expected to condemn the oppression of women and girls in Afghanistan and urge the Taliban to swiftly reverse their policies and practices that restrict their rights.
The threat of terrorism emanating from Afghanistan is another likely topic of discussion. According to the latest report of the Monitoring Team assisting the 1267/1989/2253 Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Da’esh) Sanctions Committee, the Taliban have continued to maintain a permissive environment for a range of terrorist groups that pose a serious threat to the security of Central Asia and other member states. The report also says that the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant-Khorasan (ISIL-K), ISIL’s Afghanistan affiliate, remains the most serious threat both regionally and internationally and notes that it operates with relative impunity. In this context, some members may call on the Taliban to adhere to their commitments regarding the prevention of terrorism and emphasise that Afghanistan must not become a haven for terrorist groups.
Some members may refer to the Afghanistan independent assessment requested by the Council in resolution 2679 and the related Doha process. (For background on the independent assessment and the Doha process, see our 27 November 2023, 8 December 2023, 28 December 2023, 25 February 2024, and 7 March 2025 What’s in Blue stories and our June 2024 and September 2024 Monthly Forecasts.) Among other matters, the independent assessment recommended the formulation of a roadmap for political engagement designed to fully reintegrate Afghanistan into the international community. At the time of writing, UNAMA, the UN Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (DPPA), and the participants in the Doha process were still working on this roadmap. It seems that an initial paper was circulated to Doha process participants in late February and that UNAMA and DPPA are currently working on a revised paper in light of comments received on the initial paper and subsequent consultations with Doha process participants.
Longstanding divisions among Council members regarding Afghanistan are expected to be on display during tomorrow’s meeting. Some members, including France, the UK, and other like-minded states, have argued that the Taliban must adhere to international norms before Afghanistan can be reintegrated into the international community and receive economic and development aid. Some of these members prefer maintaining pressure on the Taliban, particularly regarding its policies and practices that violate the rights of women and girls.
While the US has previously taken a similar position, it has also indicated that its Afghanistan policy is currently under review and that its focus has narrowed. During the last open briefing in June, the US representative noted that protecting US citizens, mitigating the terrorist threat, and securing the release of US hostages are its top priorities.
China and Russia, for their part, have contended that the international community should provide economic and development assistance to Afghanistan without linking it to other issues and favour engagement and dialogue without increased pressure. Both members have called for the release of frozen assets belonging to Afghanistan’s central bank, sanctions relief, and reinstatement of the standing exemption to the travel ban imposed by the 1988 Afghanistan sanctions regime. Pakistan has also expressed similar views.
