The world’s most serious women’s rights crisis

led freedom of expression and the media and have detained and tortured protesters, critics, and journalists.

The cutoff in development assistance has helped to create Afghanistan’s humanitarian crisis. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has reported that more than half of the population – 23 million people – face food insecurity. Women and girls are among the most seriously affected. The UN humanitarian response plan for 2024 is underfunded; as of August, donor countries had contributed only 12 percent of the funds needed.

The loss of foreign assistance has severely harmed Afghanistan’s healthcare system and exacerbated malnutrition and illnesses resulting from inadequate medical care. Taliban restrictions on women and girls have impeded access to health care, jeopardizing their right to health. The Taliban’s education bans guarantee future shortages of female health workers, Human Rights Watch said. Donor countries need to find ways to mitigate the ongoing humanitarian crisis without reinforcing the Taliban’s repressive policies against women and girls.

More than 665,000 Afghans have arrived in Afghanistan from Pakistan since September 2023, having been forced out during a Pakistani government crackdown on foreign immigrants and refugees. Many had lived in Pakistan for decades. The numbers have added to the millions who have been internally displaced in Afghanistan and have strained existing humanitarian support.

Thousands of Afghans who fled the country after the Taliban takeover live in limbo in Iran, Türkiye, the United Arab Emirates, and other countries as resettlement processes in countries that pledged to take in Afghans, including the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, and Canada, have been slow and inadequate to the needs of at-risk Afghans.