Afghanistan

The UN reaffirmed its “commitment to stay” in Afghanistan on Friday, in a review assessing its operations in the country in light of the Taliban banning women from working for the world body.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres made the comments after a closed-door conference in Doha to build consensus on the challenges facing Afghanistan.

The United Nations Security Council is set to vote Thursday to demand Afghanistan's Taliban leadership swiftly reverse their restrictions on women's access to education and work and to condemn a recent ban on U.N. local female staff.

The Security Council today unanimously adopted a resolution condemning the decision of the Taliban to ban Afghan women from working for the United Nations in Afghanistan, saying that it undermines human rights and humanitarian principles. By the terms of resolution 2681 (2023) (to be issued as document S/RES/2681(2023)), the 15-member organ called for the full, equal, meaningful and safe participation of women and girls in Afghanistan. 

The United Nations deputy secretary-general said Monday that the organization plans to arrange a conference in the coming days to discuss granting recognition to Afghanistan's Taliban, stressing the need for engagement with the fundamentalist authorities.

Russia said Friday that Afghanistan’s Taliban had made progress against terrorism and drug trafficking but needed to resolve women’s rights issues and create an inclusive government to win recognition for their rule.

Uzbekistan is hosting a conference Thursday of foreign ministers of regional countries, including Russia and China, to review the situation and cooperation with Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.

The Taliban on Wednesday said their decision to forbid local women from working for the United Nations in Afghanistan is an internal matter that all parties should respect.

The UN has launched an operational review in Afghanistan, and told national staff to remain at home, following the decision by the Taliban de facto authorities to ban Afghan women from working with the Organization. 

“Our colleagues on the ground at the UN mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) received word of an order by the de facto authorities that bans female national staff members of the UN from working,” Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General, told reporters at UN Headquarters during the regular daily briefing.