UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres Wednesday expressed his serious concern over the series of cross-border terrorist attacks from Afghanistan against Pakistan, and asked the Taliban-ruled country to stop those incursions. “We are particularly worried with the fact that there is a penetration of terrorists from Afghanistan into Pakistan,” he said in response to a question from APP correspondent at a crowded press conference ahead of next week’s high-level debate at the 79th session of the UN General Assembly.

The UN chief said that those terrorists attack were “creating many innocent victims and being a threat to Pakistani security”.

He was asked how does the UN plan to respond to the serious threat of terrorism emanating from Afghanistan, especially from Da’esh and TTP, which are affiliated with Al-Qaeda.

The secretary-general replied, “So one of the things that is absolutely central is that Afghanistan control it’s territory and doesn’t allow terrorist groups from any other country to operate from Afghanistan.”

A recent United Nations report said that the TTP is “the largest terrorist group” in Afghanistan and receives growing support from that country’s Taliban rulers to conduct cross-border attacks in Pakistan.

The UN sanctions monitoring team released the assessment in July amid a surge in TTP-led terror attacks against Pakistani security forces and civilians, killing hundreds of them recently.

“TTP continues to operate at a significant scale in Afghanistan and to conduct terrorist operations into Pakistan from there, often utilizing Afghans,” the report read. It noted that the globally designated terrorist group is operating in Afghanistan with an estimated strength of 6,000-6,500 fighters.

“Further, the Taliban have proved unable or unwilling to manage the threat from Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP), whose attacks into Pakistan have intensified,” the document said. “Taliban’s support to TTP also appears to have increased.”

“The Taliban do not conceive of TTP as a terrorist group: the bonds are close, and the debt owed to TTP is significant,” the UN report said.

The international forces withdrew from Afghanistan in August 2021, clearing the way for the Taliban to reclaim power from the then US-backed Afghan government in Kabul.

The UN report said regional al-Qaeda operatives in Afghanistan, who have long-term ties to the Taliban, are assisting TTP in conducting high-profile terrorist activities inside Pakistan.

UN warns of growing crisis under Taliban rule

Concerns for women and the overall state of humanitarian rights in Afghanistan are growing following further legal clampdowns by the Taliban, the UN Security Council heard Wednesday.

The Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Afghanistan, Roza Otunbayeva, said the country’s de facto rulers, who have imposed their own interpretation of strict Islamic law, had “delivered a period of stability not seen in decades” in Afghanistan, yet the population was at risk of a worsened humanitarian and development crisis as international funding declines. “The de facto authorities are exacerbating this crisis by policies that focus insufficiently on the real needs of its people and undermine its economic potential,” Ms Otunbayeva said.

She noted that the current humanitarian response plan, which requires $3 billion dollars, was only 30 percent funded. “There are no indications that significant additional resources will be provided as we approach the final quarter of the year,” Ms. Otunbayeva said.

The lack of funding has contributed to the discontinuation of over 200 mobile and static healthcare services this year, and another 171 health facilities are set to close in the next few months.

Furthermore, food rations in communities already experiencing hunger have been cut from 75 to 50 per cent of the required amount and several million vulnerable civilians live in areas where they lack access to safe water.

“The humanitarian crisis will soon become a development crisis, given Afghanistan’s quickly growing youth population, an economy that is unable to absorb them and international donors who are reluctant to provide development aid due in large part to restrictions on the movement and activities of half the population,” the Special Representative said.

Ms. Otunbayeva told the Council members that Afghanistan was currently ostracised by the international community, noting that the Taliban would not need foreign intervention if they only “unlocked the resourcefulness of their entire population”.

In July, at a meeting on Afghanistan in Doha, Qatar, UN member states and international organizations met to consider next steps to aid the civilian population in the country.

But, Ms Otunbayeva told the Council that progress was quickly undermined shortly after the meetings convened as the authorities adopted a “moral oversight law” which placed further restrictions on women.

UN Women Executive Director Sima Bahous provided further details on this law, noting that it required women and girls to cover their bodies completely when leaving the home and prohibited them from speaking in public and from looking at men they are not related to.

“Afghanistan’s women do not only fear these oppressive laws, they also fear their capricious application,” Ms. Bahous said. “A life lived in such circumstances is truly incomprehensible.”

The Executive Director also mentioned continued restrictions on women’s education, noting that only Afghan boys remain in school and receive an education based on a curriculum whose details are only known by the Taliban.

Also briefing the Council, a 21-year-old Afghan girl referred to as Mina who no longer resides in the country explained that action needs to be taken now to address restrictions imposed on women by the de facto authorities.

She shared her concerns that the next generation of Afghan girls would believe they are not worthy of an education.

“We must listen to the girls in Afghanistan and do anything we can to stop this oppression,” she said.

UN Women chief Bahous and other briefers called on the 15-member Council for action to be taken to defend women and other civilians in Afghanistan.

“We can decide now to put our political will and resources behind our solidarity with Afghan women,” she said. “I implore you again not only to stay this course but to commit to it with renewed determination.”