Afghanistan: Humanitarian Access Snapshot (April 2025)

Key Highlights

The operational environment in Afghanistan remains highly challenging, impacted by persistent access constraints and ongoing funding cuts. In April, humanitarian partners reported 60[1] access incidents across multiple regions, with the central region most affected (16 incidents), followed by the southern region (12 incidents) and western regions (10 incidents each). While this reflects an 11 per cent increase from March and a 52 per cent reduction compared to April 2024, the decline in reported incidents does not indicate an improvement in the overall access landscape. Rather, it is largely attributed to the suspension of United States funding, which led many humanitarian partners to scale down or halt their operations. As a result, fewer access challenges were encountered or reported.

These constraints continued to undermine the effective and timely delivery of humanitarian assistance. Access impediments reported in April included interference in humanitarian activities, challenges related to the physical environment, restrictions on movement, and violence against humanitarian personnel, assets and facilities. In total, 35 humanitarian activities were temporarily suspended due to these access challenges.

Interference by de facto authorities remained the most significant constraint, accounting for 73 per cent of all reported incidents in April—an increase of 16 per cent compared to the previous month. A total of 44 interference-related incidents directly affected humanitarian operations. These included interference in programming, diversion of aid, delays or complications in signing Memorandums of Understanding, interference in procurement and recruitment processes, involvement in beneficiary selection, demands for staff lists and other sensitive data and restrictions on the participation of female staff in humanitarian activities.

Violence against humanitarian personnel increased in April, with seven incidents involving the detention of 29 staff members—16 men and 13 women—and two additional incidents involving threats and verbal abuse by de facto authorities. These incidents further disrupted the ability of humanitarian workers to operate safely and effectively.

In addition, four incidents involving movement restrictions for agencies, staff or goods were reported, most of which occurred at checkpoints. These restrictions often included limitations on the participation of female humanitarian workers. Notably, 18 per cent of all reported access incidents in April were gender-related, specifically targeting female staff. This marks a 38 per cent increase compared to the previous month, highlighting the growing risks and constraints faced by women engaged in humanitarian operations.

In April, de facto authorities issued two directives specifically targeting humanitarian partners, reiterating previous demands for the submission of sensitive information, including beneficiary lists.

[1] The access incidents are reported to the Access Monitoring and Reporting Framework (AMRF) either directly by humanitarian partners to OCHA or through the cluster coordinators and working group, and DSS.