An emergency session of the United Nations Security Council on Afghanistan is scheduled for this evening (Monday, June 23) in New York.

Roza Otunbayeva, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative, along with senior humanitarian and women’s rights officials, will address the situation in Afghanistan at the meeting.

Political analyst Salim Paigir said, “Over the past four years, we have seen many of these Security Council meetings, but the results that the Afghan people expect have not materialized. Often, official Afghan representatives or those from the Islamic Emirate are not invited to defend themselves or present the truths we witness daily in Afghan society.”

Key discussion topics will include human rights especially women’s and girls’ rights, economic crises, and the plight of Afghan refugees.

Political experts said that the outcomes of this session could define the roadmap for global engagement with Afghanistan and its humanitarian, legal, and political challenges.
Political analyst Moein Gul Samkani commented, “If the UNAMA office can accurately reflect Afghanistan’s problems to the international community, we believe the UN will focus on them. The issue is that UNAMA often seems to waste time, and our follow-up efforts in Afghanistan yield little. Still, UNAMA remains a bridge between us, the Afghans, and the global community.”

Another analyst, Najib-ur-Rahman Shomal, added, “We hope this meeting will, unlike previous ones, make decisions that suit Afghanistan’s conditions and help resolve its political, economic, social, and human rights challenges.”

Although the Islamic Emirate has not yet commented on this session, it had previously stated that it considers the presence of a representative from its caretaker government essential in such meetings.