KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – Five years after the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan, the country continues to experience relative territorial stability alongside persistent security threats, serious human rights concerns, economic pressure and a worsening humanitarian situation, according to the latest report of the United Nations Secretary-General.
The report says the Taliban’s de facto authorities have maintained overall control of Afghanistan under a highly centralized political structure led by Taliban leader Haibatullah Akhundzada. However, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the apparent stability masks growing risks that could affect Afghanistan’s stability in both the short and long term.
These risks include continuing human rights violations, a lack of political inclusivity, severe economic pressures, declining capacity to provide basic services, large-scale returns and migration, and continuing concerns over the use of Afghan territory by terrorist groups.
Guterres said that although the Taliban had maintained relative stability, several of their policies were weakening Afghanistan’s capacity to address current and future challenges. He identified the institutionalized denial of the rights of women and girls and the authoritarian nature of the political system as among the most significant concerns.
According to the report, these policies not only have direct consequences for Afghan society and development but also remain obstacles to Afghanistan’s reintegration into the international system. The UN Secretary-General said restrictions on women and girls also hinder the mobilization of additional international resources because they limit the ways in which the international community can provide assistance to Afghans, including women and girls.
The report calls on the Taliban authorities to take concrete steps to meet Afghanistan’s international obligations and protect the human rights and fundamental freedoms of all Afghans. Guterres called for the immediate removal of discriminatory restrictions on women and girls and urged the Taliban to remove barriers to their access to education, employment and public life.
He also called for Afghan women working for the United Nations and humanitarian organizations to be allowed to return to their workplaces. The UN has repeatedly said that restrictions on Afghan women working for the organization undermine its ability to deliver assistance, particularly to women and girls.
Guterres further urged the Taliban to respect freedom of expression and media freedom, ensure fair legal procedures and the rights of detainees, prevent violations of the general amnesty announced in 2021, and end corporal punishment. He also called for the use of force to comply fully with international human rights law, including the principles of legality, necessity and proportionality.
The security situation remains complex. Between May 1 and July 31 of current year, anti-Taliban armed groups claimed responsibility for 88 incidents in 21 provinces, while the United Nations verified 55 of them, including 30 in July alone. The attacks were mainly ambushes and assaults on Taliban checkpoints, military facilities and government targets.
The report names several armed opposition groups, including the Afghanistan Freedom Front, National Resistance Front, Afghanistan Independence Front, Afghanistan Republican Front, Andarab Resistance Front and Soldiers of the Homeland Front or Sepahian-e Mihan. The UN said these groups remained fragmented, decentralized and largely focused on local targets and had not significantly challenged Taliban territorial control during the reporting period.
The report cites several incidents, including a June 12 attack targeting personnel of the Taliban’s Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice in Herat and another attack against the ministry’s personnel in Kabul on June 22. On July 17, the Soldiers of the Homeland Front briefly seized administrative buildings in Yaftal-e Payin district of Badakhshan before withdrawing. On July 24, the Afghanistan Freedom Front attacked a Taliban security checkpoint in Zaybak district of Badakhshan. Taliban forces reportedly repelled the attack and retained control of the area, although sporadic clashes continued.
The United Nations also recorded 2,947 safety- and security-related incidents between May 1 and July 31, an 11 percent increase compared with the same period a year earlier. The incidents included armed opposition attacks, activity by Islamic State-Khorasan, border clashes with Pakistan and other security-related events. At the same time, 64 incidents directly affected UN personnel, compared with 62 during the same period in 2025, although the figure was lower than the 92 incidents recorded during the previous three-month period.
Islamic State-Khorasan remains another security concern. The group claimed responsibility for an attack on a Taliban checkpoint in Waygal district of Nuristan on June 30 that reportedly injured several Taliban security personnel. It also claimed responsibility for the killing of a Taliban official near Faizabad, the capital of Badakhshan, on July 29. The report also notes broader international concerns over terrorist groups operating from Afghan territory, while Taliban authorities continue to say that they will not allow Afghanistan to be used to launch attacks against other countries.
The Afghanistan-Pakistan border was another major source of insecurity during the reporting period. From May through July, the border remained volatile amid drone surveillance, air strikes and retaliatory military activity linked to allegations concerning the presence of Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan, the Hafiz Gul Bahadur Group and other armed groups in Afghanistan.
The United Nations reported Pakistani air strikes affecting several Afghan provinces, including Ghazni, Kunar, Khost, Paktika and Paktia. Cross-border shelling and fighting between Afghan de facto security forces and Pakistani forces were also reported in areas of Kandahar, Nangarhar, Paktia, Paktika, Khost, Kunar and Nuristan.
On July 30, the Taliban Ministry of Defense said it had carried out drone attacks against locations in Pakistan that it alleged belonged to Islamic State-Khorasan and Afghan opposition groups. Pakistani authorities confirmed that drones had crossed into Pakistani territory and said they had been intercepted. The UN said the attacks resulted in material damage as well as several deaths and injuries.
The fighting also had a significant impact on civilians. Between April 1 and June 30, UNAMA documented 399 civilian casualties in Afghanistan—57 deaths and 342 injuries—resulting from hostilities between Afghanistan and Pakistan. The UN reported that Pakistani air strikes on June 28 in Kunar, Paktika and Paktia killed 28 civilians and injured 189 others.
Human rights remain another major concern. Between May 1 and July 31, UNAMA documented 12 killings, 13 cases of arbitrary arrest and detention and three cases of torture or ill-treatment involving former government officials and members of the former Afghan National Defence and Security Forces, despite the Taliban’s general amnesty.
UNAMA also documented 21 instances of corporal punishment carried out by Taliban authorities during the reporting period, involving eight women and 13 men.
Restrictions on freedom of expression and the media also continued. The UN reported that Taliban authorities detained three journalists for periods ranging from 19 days to two months and suspended two media outlets during the reporting period. One of the outlets later resumed operations, while the other remained suspended.
Women and girls continued to face extensive restrictions on education, employment, movement and participation in public life. In Herat City, Taliban authorities detained at least 30 women on June 6 and 7 over alleged violations of the required dress code. When protests followed on June 9, UNAMA reported that security forces beat and fired at protesters, killing one boy and injuring at least four people. At least 17 protesters were arrested.
The report also highlights restrictions affecting women’s family rights. A decree issued by the Taliban Ministry of Justice on May 14 concerning judicial separation of spouses established limited circumstances in which women could seek separation, with many cases requiring the husband’s consent. According to the UN, the decree also reinforced the role of male guardians in marriage and implicitly permitted child marriage. Taliban officials defended the decree as being based on their interpretation of sharia.
The restrictions have also contributed to a continuing education crisis. UNESCO estimated in August that about 2.4 million Afghan girls had been excluded from secondary education five years after the Taliban takeover. A UNICEF study cited in the report estimated that restrictions on women’s education and participation in the labour force cost Afghanistan at least $84 million annually, equivalent to about 0.5 percent of the country’s 2023 GDP.
Afghanistan’s humanitarian situation remains severe. The UN estimates that about one in three Afghans faces acute food insecurity, with approximately 13.8 million people projected to experience crisis or emergency levels of food insecurity in 2026. An estimated 3.7 million children under five and 1.2 million pregnant and breastfeeding women are also projected to face acute malnutrition.
The humanitarian response continues to face a major funding shortfall. The 2026 Afghanistan Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan required $1.7 billion, but only $513 million, or 29.9 percent, had been funded at the time covered by the report. Funding shortages also contributed to the suspension or closure of approximately 150 health facilities between January and June.
Humanitarian access has also been increasingly restricted. Between April and June, humanitarian partners reported 159 incidents affecting access and resulting in the suspension of 86 activities. Twenty-three incidents involved violence against humanitarian personnel, assets or facilities, including the detention of 21 humanitarian workers.
Afghanistan is also facing pressure from the large-scale return of its citizens from neighbouring countries. Between January 1 and August 22, nearly 1.15 million Afghans returned from neighbouring countries, including approximately 686,200 from Pakistan and 465,000 from Iran, in addition to returns from Tajikistan. A large proportion of these returns were involuntary, putting additional pressure on labour markets, housing and communities’ capacity to absorb returnees.
The UN report concludes that Afghanistan has achieved a degree of relative security and territorial stability under Taliban control, but that this stability masks significant underlying risks. These include continuing human rights violations, restrictions on women and girls, limited political inclusivity, economic pressures, inadequate basic services, large-scale returns, humanitarian funding shortages and concerns over terrorist groups operating from Afghan territory.
Guterres has called on the Taliban authorities to lift restrictions on women and girls, protect freedom of expression and media freedom, respect detainees’ rights, uphold the general amnesty, end corporal punishment and ensure that the use of force complies with international law. The UN also continues to call for the protection of civilians amid tensions and hostilities along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.
