Afghanistan stands at a "difficult crossroad" more than five years after the Taliban returned to power, a senior UN official said on Friday. Relative stability and security are being undercut by a fragile economy, sweeping curbs on rights and acute humanitarian need.
Bruno Lemarquis is the Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Afghanistan. He is also the UN's Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in the country.
'Severe and sweeping'
Women and girls continue to suffer from "severe and sweeping" restrictions on their freedoms, being deprived of many spaces to learn, work and participate in public life, Mr. Lemarquis stressed.
In particular, the restriction of girls' access to education represents "one of the world's most sensitive…education challenges," he said.
Since 2021, over 2.6 million girls have been denied secondary education, and female university enrollment currently stands at zero.
But higher education overall is in crisis: due to the country's economic frailty, some families are also holding back from sending their boys to school.
When asked by a journalist how the Taliban justify their restrictions on women and girls, Mr. Lemarquis said their explanations are a mix of religious extremism and deep historical practices of control and discrimination.
Since September 2025, Afghan women staffers have also been banned from entering United Nations premises across the country, and the ban has not been lifted.
6.7 million forced to return
The "massive" return of 6.7 million nationals to Afghanistan since 2020 is also placing additional strain on its already stretched services.
Many were forcibly expelled from the neighbouring countries that were hosting them, with a large portion coming from Pakistan and Iran.
Mr. Lemarquis said he had met many who had to return to Afghanistan despite never having lived there before. This included a 45-year-old father born abroad who had ended up back in his ancestral village along with his children.
He stressed that these returnees need legal documentation, protection and "jobs, jobs, jobs."
Opium bounces back
For decades, Afghanistan was the world's biggest source of illicit opium, but its cultivation dropped dramatically following a 2022 Taliban ban.
Yet Mr. Lemarquis cited a recent UN report which found opium poppy production increasing by 330 per cent during 2025 , with farmers finding ways of hiding their production from the Taliban.
For eradication to be effective, he said, there needs to be viable alternatives to making a living.
"We cannot survive. And we don't want to die," some farmers told him, talking about how little income they would make without opium cultivation.
Funding in freefall
Humanitarian needs in Afghanistan are expected to rise starkly in 2027 due to a combination of shocks - the mass influx of returnees, regional instability and the stronger-than-ever El Nino weather pattern together seriously threaten food security and access to services.
Yet at the same time, humanitarian funding is being cut year-on-year. In 2023, the humanitarian response reached $2 billion, in 2025 it halved to $1 billion, and so far in 2026 it has only amounted to $570 million, roughly a quarter of 2023 levels.
40 per cent of primary healthcare facilities are expected to close between 2025 and 2026 - corresponding to 700 health posts out of 1,900 across the country.
The consequences are "very, very, very significant," Mr. Lemarquis stressed, urging the international community not to turn its back of Afghanistan.
"And there is a saying in Afghanistan that is 'What is happening in Afghanistan is not staying in Afghanistan,'" he said.
"The consequences could go beyond the Afghanistan border, potentially affecting regional security, regional stability and migration pathways."
