As Afghanistan faces several escalating crises and an extreme humanitarian emergency, the resilience of its people is being severely tested and demands urgent action, senior UN officials today warned the Security Council.
"More than 23 million Afghans - over half the population - continue to require humanitarian assistance in 2026. Their needs are staggering and growing," said Georgette Gagnon, Deputy Special Representative for Afghanistan, Officer-in-Charge of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), told the 15-member Council on International Human Rights Day.
Pointing out that women and girls continue to be systematically excluded from almost all aspects of public life, she said: "The ban on secondary and tertiary education for girls persists now into its fourth year, depriving Afghanistan of female doctors, entrepreneurs, teachers and leaders critical to the country today and its future."
Afghans also continue to experience systematic infringements into their daily lives through the enforcement of the de facto authorities' law on the propagation of virtue and prevention of vice, she said. And the National Development Strategy aimed at economic self-sufficiency is undermined by political risks and ideological restrictions, including the ongoing ban on UN female national staff entering UN premises, which violates their human rights and hampers the UN mandate.
"We have consistently raised this unacceptable situation with de facto senior leaders," she said, stressing: "We need your further support to ensure this situation does not become normalized."
Turning to the country's agricultural woes, she said the opium cultivation ban, now in its third straight year, has led to a 48 per cent drop in rural incomes. Through the Doha process, she said, an action plan for alternative livelihoods has been developed, but more funding and technical assistance are needed. And while Afghanistan's security is "outwardly calm", tensions with Pakistan have produced deadly cross-border exchanges of fire and air strikes.
"Afghanistan's de facto authorities continue to miss or reject opportunities for multilateral engagement with the international community," she went on the say, adding that the Taliban order of a shutdown of all telecommunications was so disruptive it was reversed by the "more pragmatic faction" of the de facto authorities.
17.4 Million People Facing Hunger amid Massive Humanitarian Funding Cuts
Massive funding cuts have left Afghanistan in a severe humanitarian crisis, with 17.4 million facing hunger, warned Tom Fletcher, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator. Back-to-back earthquakes, drought and groundwater depletion are further degrading livelihoods and basic services. He also echoed the Secretary-General's call for the de facto authorities to remove restrictions and to let female staff work safely, adding: "Afghanistan needs them."
Despite underfunding, the UN and partners continue to deliver assistance, helped by the humanitarian exception to Security Council resolution 2615 (2021), which allows essential operational payments such as rent, utilities, visas and other fees needed to keep aid moving. But this winter is the first in years with almost no international food distribution, denying 1.1 million children of life-saving nutrition services as 305 nutrition service delivery points have closed.
"With 3.7 million children in need of nutrition assistance, including 1.7 million at risk of death if not treated, the results will be catastrophic," he said. He urged Council members to keep supporting the "humanitarian exception" in resolution 2615 (2021), insist that women humanitarian staff can do their jobs without restrictions and fund the humanitarian appeal.
Afghan Women Reduced to Aid Recipients
Highlighting the plight of Afghan women, Negina Yari, Founder and Executive Director of the Window for Hope Network, said that, while today marks International Human Rights Day, "virtually every right of Afghan women - to learn, to work, to participate in public and political life - has been gradually extinguished". They are, she said, "reduced to recipients of aid instead of architects of their own lives".
And now, even their ability to access that aid is in danger, as the Taliban's increasing restrictions on aid workers have put millions of women and girls who depend on assistance at greater risk of harm.
"The Taliban's shifting restrictions undermine the rule of law and normalize rights violations as routine governance," she said. Sharing the experiences of some of the 256 Afghan women that her organization interviewed ahead of today's meeting, she said that they described how the Taliban's removal of female UN staff from their workplaces has created severe operational challenges. "We are not asking for charity. We are demanding our rights."
Assault on Human Rights among Worst in World
Throughout the debate, delegations expressed concern over Afghanistan's deepening humanitarian emergency and unprecedented assault on the rights of women and girls, and warned that the country's rising security risks could result in dangerous regional spillover.
Denmark's representative said that Afghanistan under the Taliban is facing "one of the most extreme and systematic assaults on human rights in the world". Similar to other speakers, she welcomed the new International Investigative Mechanism for Afghanistan established by the UN Human Rights Council in October to document abuses and ensure future accountability.
"The actions we take - or fail to take - for all Afghan women and girls will shape how we are perceived collectively as a global community," added Tanja Fajon, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign and European Affairs of Slovenia, Council President for December, as she spoke in her national capacity. The representative of the United Kingdom said that officials from his country travelled to Kabul in October to "press the Taliban to reverse these barbaric decrees", noting that London has committed $201 million in the 2025-26 financial year for vital life-saving services.
Safe Haven for Terrorism
Speakers also expressed deep concern that cross-border attacks and weaponized trade and transit are already destabilizing neighbours, with Greece's delegate insisting that Afghanistan must not become a "safe haven for terrorism" while Panama's representative warning that rising armed incidents in border areas risk a more complex regional crisis.
"Afghanistan is once again a safe sanctuary for terrorist groups and proxies," declared Pakistan's delegate, saying that this year alone Pakistan lost 1,200 lives to this violence. "Terrorist entities, including ISIL-K, Al-Qaeda, TTP, ETIM, BLA and Majeed Brigade, enjoy safe havens in Afghanistan's territory," he added. Having hosted Afghan refugees for over four decades, Pakistan also believes that Afghans should return to their country in a dignified and orderly manner, he added.
Also echoing a regional refugee concern, the representative of Iran further underscored that Tehran "cannot, and will not, continue to shoulder alone the disproportionate burden of hosting more than 6 million Afghan nationals".
Other regional countries weighed in, with India's representative saying that involuntary return movements have created serious humanitarian and economic vulnerabilities. He condemned the closure of access as "trade and transit terrorism" against a vulnerable landlocked country. Kazakhstan's delegate highlighted Almaty's commitment of $500 million in railway infrastructure to help Afghanistan integrate into regional and international supply chains.
Call to Safeguard Hard-Won Gains
Council speakers also stressed the need for pragmatic, non-politicized cooperation with Afghanistan's de facto authorities on economic recovery, connectivity and counter-narcotics.
"We need to safeguard the hard-won results and communicate with each other frankly on issues of mutual concern," China's delegate said. With over 30 million Afghans living in extreme poverty and on barely $1 a day, he emphasized: "It is important to oppose the politicization of aid issues".
Afghan authorities are working towards the transformation of Afghanistan into a self-reliant State, said the representative of the Russian Federation. But "this process will not happen overnight without our concerted, non-political support". There must be a "painstaking, trust-based dialogue with the Taliban on all problems", and he underscored: "There is no room here for pressure or blackmail."
Taliban Must End Restrictions, 'Gender Persecution' of Women and Girls
On International Human Rights Day, "it is incomprehensible for the Security Council to remain silent in light of the degrading conditions imposed by the Taliban targeting the Afghan people for more than four years now", pushed back France's delegate. "If the Taliban wish to be integrated into the international community as they claim, then they need to demonstrate this with acts," he stated.
The Republic of Korea's delegate said that the Taliban must ensure international aid is delivered in an unimpeded manner while Guyana's delegate, who also spoke for Algeria, Sierra Leone and Somalia, added that the Taliban's non-compliance with international obligations "continue to prevent meaningful progress towards Afghanistan's reintegration into the international community".
"Quite simply, the Taliban are not good-faith interlocutors, and they do not care about the well-being of the Afghan people," added the United States' representative. They manipulate international support, ignore Afghans' basic needs and demonstrate little willingness to meet their international commitments. If the Taliban prevents UNAMA from carrying out its tasks, then the Council should consider realigning its mandate to this reality, she said.
Call for Coordinated International Engagement, Intra-Afghan Negotiations
The representative of Afghanistan said that the Secretary-General's report "confirms what Afghans endure daily" - deliberate, systematic violations of fundamental rights. Public execution, corporal punishment, arbitrary detention, media censorship and extrajudicial killing continue without accountability. "But it is the women and girls of Afghanistan who face the most extreme persecution and systematic discrimination," he said, and the Taliban's deliberate decision to do so amounts to "gender persecution on a scale that constitutes crimes against humanity".
He also spotlighted the 23 million Afghans who require humanitarian assistance despite declining funding, continued terrorist activity in Afghanistan and recent escalation between the Taliban and Pakistan. He called on the Council to adopt a coordinated, benchmark-based international engagement framework; intra-Afghan negotiations leading to legitimate governance; and place the rights of women and girls at the centre of all engagement. He concluded: "The people of Afghanistan have not abandoned hope - the international community must not abandon them."
Complete Live Blog coverage of today's meeting can be found here .
