KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – Roza Otunbayeva, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Afghanistan and head of UNAMA, says that the international community has valid concerns about terrorism originating from Afghanistan, despite the Taliban’s denial.
In her briefing to the UN Security Council on Wednesday, September 18, Otunbayeva cited the latest UN sanctions monitoring team report, noting that it underscores concerns about the presence of terrorist groups on Afghan soil.
The head of UNAMA highlighted the recent deadly ISKP attacks in Kabul and the attack on Hazaras in central Daykundi province, stressing that these incidents are a reminder that the terrorist threat in Afghanistan persists.
“We must find an appropriate mechanism to address this common concern,” she said.
In his latest quarterly report to the council, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres documented at least four ISKP attacks targeting Hazaras and Taliban members over the past three months.
Regarding the Taliban’s newly enacted morality law, Otunbayeva said that the law undermined the Doha process, which was intended to facilitate more meaningful discussions with the regime.
She said that the UN was hopeful that the participation of all parties, including the Taliban, in the Doha meeting would mark a promising start for more meaningful talks. However, the adoption of the new law shortly after the meeting has undermined the process.
“This law sends a negative political signal regarding genuine engagement – a signal that we cannot ignore. I have conveyed this clearly to my interlocutors in Afghanistan,” she said.
The Taliban’s new morality law, recently approved by the regime’s supreme leader, has significantly worsened the situation for the Afghan population, particularly for women and girls.
The 35-article law views women’s voices as a source of vice, prohibiting them from reading or speaking aloud in public, forbidding them from looking at men who are not family members, and mandating that women fully veil their bodies, including their faces, outside their homes.
The head of UNAMA also noted that the law grants extensive and discretionary enforcement powers to the Taliban’s morality police, which has already begun to generate significant anxiety among Afghans.
“UNAMA has already received reports of women being prevented from going to work at radio stations, drivers refusing to provide transport to women not accompanied by a male family member, and of stricter enforcement of segregation and dress codes in the workplace,” she added.
Regarding the humanitarian situation in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, the head of UNAMA said that the Afghan people are facing a severe humanitarian and development crisis due to a decrease in international funding.
“The de facto authorities [Taliban] are exacerbating this crisis by policies that focus insufficiently on the real needs of its people and undermine its economic potential,” she said.
Otunbayeva expressed concern about the significant underfunding of the $3.06 billion 2024 Afghanistan Humanitarian Response Plan, highlighting that it is only 30% funded so far with no sign of additional support as the year nears its end.
She said that 260 static and mobile health facilities have been closed, affecting 2.9 million people, and an additional 171 are expected to close in the coming months due to a lack of funds.
“Nearly 900,000 children requiring severe wasting treatment will not be reached, leaving these children twelve times more likely to die than healthy children,” Otunbayeva said.
