Afghanistan: Humanitarian Access Snapshot (January 2025)

In January 2025, partners reported 127[1] humanitarian access incidents, with the De-facto Authority (DfA) authoring most (83 percent). This shows that incidents in January saw a 17 percent decrease reported compared to the same time last year and a 14 percent decrease in access impediments compared to the previous month. The access incidents resulted in a temporary suspension of 56 projects in January alone, and the suspension of projects lasted from 1 day up to 30 days, while 48 percent remain suspended, thus severely impacting humanitarian assistance to the people in need. Many of the incidents reported involved ‘Interference in implementing humanitarian activities,’ followed by ‘physical environment’ and ‘Violence against humanitarian personnel, assets and facilities’, respectively.

The primary cause of access constraints in January continued to be interference in implementing humanitarian activities. Humanitarian partners documented 87 incidents linked to these interferences, in contrast to the 136[2] incidents reported in the preceding month. The incidents encompassed various forms of interference: 'interference with Programming' (40 incidents), 'request for staff list and sensitive data' (25 incidents), ‘restriction on women Humanitarian workers participation in the humanitarian action’ (13 incidents), 'interference with staff recruitment' (5 incidents), 'delays with Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signing' (2 incidents), 'interference or attempted interference into beneficiary selection' (1 incident), and interference with procurement process (1 incident). Because of these incidents**, 26 projects had to be suspended, with the majority (22 projects) still suspended as of February**.

The humanitarian response in January was also impacted by an increase of 15 incidents (from 3 incidents reported in December 2024) and challenges related to the physical environment, such as heavy snowfall and rainfall, for at least two days because of these climatic challenges.

The operation environment continued to pose risks to the safety and security of humanitarian staff in January, with partners reporting arrests and detention of 34 staff (25 male and 9 females, showing a 161 percent increase from the previous month. Of the eight incidents that led to the detention of humanitarian staff, PVPV (Department for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice) was responsible for five, GDI (General Directorate of Intelligence) for two, and the Department of Police for one. Among the 34 humanitarian personnel arrested, 15 remain in DfA custody as of February. These incidents have continued to impact on the operational environment, putting the safety and security of humanitarian staff at risk.

In January, the DfA issued 12 directives that significantly impacted the humanitarian response in Afghanistan. Most of these directives reinforced existing procedures. The issuing authorities primarily included the Directorate of Economy (eight directives), the Directorate of Public Health (one directive), the Provincial Governor (one directive), the Department of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock (one directive), and the Department of Finance (one directive).

[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 groups, and DSS.

[2] The incidents referenced as ‘the previous month’ include late reporting, as a result impacting the percentage comparisons. Accordingly, the incidents reported in January are expected to increase in the coming months.