Afghanistan

Officials from the U.N. and an aid organization were meeting with the Taliban in Afghanistan amid intensified calls for the Islamist rulers to end what a U.N. official describes as a “dangerous campaign” to exclude women from public life.

A senior U.N. official in Afghanistan met the deputy prime minister of the Taliban-led government Sunday to discuss a ban on women working for non-governmental groups that Afghan authorities have announced in a series of measures rolling back women's rights.

The United Nations said on Wednesday that some "time-critical" programs in Afghanistan have temporarily stopped and warned many other activities will also likely need to be paused because of a ban by the Taliban-led administration on women aid workers.

Despite their differing positions, dialogue between the Taliban authorities and the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) must continue for the sake of the country’s people, the top UN official there told the Security Council on Tuesday.

Broad international recognition remained elusive for the Afghan Taliban in 2022. After more than a year in power, no foreign nation has officially recognized the Taliban government, although China, Russia, Pakistan and Turkmenistan have accredited Taliban diplomats.

A decision on whether the Afghan Taliban administration and the Myanmar junta can send a United Nations ambassador to New York has been postponed for a second time, but could be reconsidered in the next nine months, according to a U.N. credentials committee report.

Afghanistan's ultra-conservative Taliban leadership has announced what it says is the first public execution that has taken place since its return to power.

[…] According to the press advocacy group Reporters Without Borders (RSF), 219 video, audio and print shops have been closed in Afghanistan since reestablishment of the Taliban. Before then, 547 media outlets operated in the country, RSF said.

The latest actions by Taliban de facto authorities targeting women and girls “should be investigated as gender persecution” eleven UN-appointed independent human rights experts said on Friday.

This SIPRI Insights Paper provides a preliminary assessment of China’s attitudes to and policies on Afghanistan since the August 2021 Taliban takeover.