UNITED NATIONS, Nov 06 (APP)::More than five years after the Taliban’s return to power, a senior UN official warned that Afghanistan’s fragile security is being undermined by economic collapse, severe rights restrictions, and a deepening humanitarian crisis. The official, Bruno Lemarquis, who is the Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Afghanistan, reviewed the situation in that war-torn country at a news conference at UN Headquarters in New York. He …
Afghanistan’s humanitarian crisis deepens amid declining international aid: UN official
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 06 (APP)::More than five years after the Taliban’s return to power, a senior UN official warned that Afghanistan’s fragile security is being undermined by economic collapse, severe rights restrictions, and a deepening humanitarian crisis.
The official, Bruno Lemarquis, who is the Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Afghanistan, reviewed the situation in that war-torn country at a news conference at UN Headquarters in New York. He is also the UN’s Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in the country.
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, 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 APP how the Taliban justify their restrictions on women and girls, Lemarquis said their explanations are a mix of religious extremism and deep historical practices of control and discrimination. Despite public statements by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and representations by Muslim countries as well as Islamic scholars, he said there is no perceptible change in Taliban’s tough policy toward women and girls.
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, he pointed out.
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.
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.”
For decades, Afghanistan was the world’s biggest source of illicit opium, but its cultivation dropped dramatically following a 2022 Taliban ban, he said. Yet 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.
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 Niño 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,”
Lemarquis stressed that the international community must not turn its back on 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,” he added.
