Attachments
I. Introduction
1. The present report is submitted pursuant to General Assembly resolution 79/317 and Security Council resolution 2777 (2025), in which the Secretary-General was requested to report every three months on the situation in Afghanistan and the implementation of the mandate of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), including at the subnational level.
2. The report provides an update on the activities of the United Nations in Afghanistan, including political, humanitarian and human rights efforts, since the issuance of the previous report, dated 5 September 2025 (A/80/366-S/2025/554).
II. Relevant developments
3. The Taliban leader, Haibatullah Akhundzada, intensified his engagement, meeting with senior de facto officials and religious scholars in Kandahar and asserting his authority within the de facto authorities and to the broader population in the service of his vision of a pure Islamic society. He reportedly ordered a partial and then nationwide shutdown of the country’s fibre-optic network, aimed at shutting down the Internet, which led to the widespread disruption of several telecommunications services and significant socioeconomic consequences. Communications were restored nearly 48 hours later, reportedly following a decision made by the de facto Prime Minister, Mohammad Hasan Akhund, in Kabul. Sporadic activities by armed opposition groups and Islamic State in Iraq and the LevantKhorasan (ISIL-K) persisted but posed no significant challenge to the de facto authorities’ territorial control, while hostilities between de facto and Pakistani security forces in October caused extensive civilian casualties and led to high-level negotiations on their peaceful coexistence. The de facto authorities continued to implement restrictive policies and practices curtailing the rights of women and girls in all spheres of public life, including by enforcing access restrictions on Afghan women personnel, including a ban on entering United Nations premises countrywide. The United Nations in Afghanistan subsequently suspended some operations. The country’s economy remained fragile amid declining aid inflows, sluggish growth, mounting pressures from the mass return of 2.4 million Afghans from neighbouring countries in 2025 (as at 15 November), which strained already limited resources and services, and the impact of earthquakes in August and November. Humanitarian needs rose sharply as funding shortfalls forced cuts to food, health and protection assistance, affecting millions of Afghans amid rising malnutrition and disease outbreaks. As at 7 November, only 35.7 per cent of the $2.42 billion required under the 2025 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan, targeting 16.8 million people, had been received.