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STORY: UN / AFGHANISTAN UNAMA
TRT: O4:49
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 08 JUNE 2026, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE - NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, UN Headquarters
08 JUNE 2026, NEW YORK CITY
2. Med shot, Deputy Special Representative for Afghanistan, delegates, Security Council
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Georgette Gagnon, Deputy Special Representative for Afghanistan, United Nations / Officer-in-Charge, United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA):
“On the surface, Afghanistan under the de facto authorities remains stable.”
4. Wide shot, Security Council
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Georgette Gagnon, Deputy Special Representative for Afghanistan, United Nations / Officer-in-Charge, United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA):
“For now, what exists is increasing control by the de facto authorities without a clear end-state.”
6. Wide shot, Security Council
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Georgette Gagnon, Deputy Special Representative for Afghanistan, United Nations / Officer-in-Charge, United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA):
“Up to 2.8 million Afghans are projected to return this year, many with limited assets and few livelihood prospects – and - Afghans are returning to communities and an economy that cannot fully reintegrate them. As the World Bank has reported, in real terms Afghans are becoming poorer.”
8. Wide shot, Security Council
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Georgette Gagnon, Deputy Special Representative for Afghanistan, United Nations / Officer-in-Charge, United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA):
“Afghanistan also remains one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises. Some 21.9 million people - approximately 45 percent of the population - require humanitarian assistance in 2026.”
10. Wide shot, Security Council
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Georgette Gagnon, Deputy Special Representative for Afghanistan, United Nations / Officer-in-Charge, United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA):
“What we are witnessing are severe and growing restrictions - the imposition of systemic and institutionalized harm with long-term generational consequences for Afghan society as a whole. An estimated 3.8 million girls between 7 and 18 years of age are not in school, including more than 2.6 million adolescent girls. Each year, approximately 250,000 more girls are permanently excluded from secondary education pathways, creating a lost generation of talent and potential.”
12. Wide shot, Security Council
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Edem Wosornu, Director, Crisis Response Division, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), United Nations:
“While a ceasefire in April has led to a reduction in violence, explosive weapons contamination continues to pose a deadly threat – especially to children. The conflict has also disrupted critical supply chains with the continued border closure affecting humanitarian programmes, especially food security and nutrition. A reopening of the border is urgently required to keep the response moving.”
14. Wide shot, Security Council
15. SOUNDBITE (English) Edem Wosornu, Director, Crisis Response Division, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), United Nations:
“Hunger is growing across Afghanistan. Today, 4.7 million people are at risk of severe food insecurity (IPC Phase 4) – which is 50 per cent higher than during the same time last year. Some 3.7 million children are facing acute malnutrition. We continue to receive alarming reports of families forced into desperate choices, including selling daughters, simply to survive.”
16. Wide shot, Security Council
17. SOUNDBITE (English) Edem Wosornu, Director, Crisis Response Division, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), United Nations:
“Activities supporting women and girls continue to be disproportionately affected by de facto authority restrictions, with at least six women’s spaces closed in Herat Province since March and the suspension of livelihoods activities for women. Female staff have also been stopped in Herat for what the de-facto authorities claimed to be inappropriate dress, inappropriate dress, and over the weekend we have received reports of dozens of women arrested due to alleged non-compliance with existing dress codes- including women health workers.”
18. Wide shot, Security Council
19. SOUNDBITE (English) Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Pakistan:
“Pakistan will not sit idle while suffering from terrorist acts. We will respond in self-defense as and when needed, and always in conformity with international law, including IHL.”
20. Wide shot, Security Council
21. SOUNDBITE (English) Naseer Ahmad Faiq, Chargé d'Affaires, Mission to the United Nations, Afghanistan:
“Besides the United Nations and the European Union, and regional and international organizations, Islamic countries and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation must play a more active role in making clear to the Taliban that these draconian policies not only pose a threat to the future of Afghanistan but also harm the image of Islam worldwide.”
22. Wide shot, Security Council
A top UN official said, “We continue to receive alarming reports of families forced into desperate choices, including selling daughters, simply to survive” in Afghanistan.
Addressing the Security Council today (8 Jun), Georgette Gagnon, Deputy Special Representative for Afghanistan, said that “on the surface,” the country under the de facto authorities remains stable.
“For now, what exists is increasing control by the de facto authorities without a clear end-state,” she added.
Gagnon said that up to 2.8 million Afghans are projected to return this year, “many with limited assets and few livelihood prospects – and - Afghans are returning to communities and an economy that cannot fully reintegrate them. As the World Bank has reported, in real terms Afghans are becoming poorer.”
She also said, “Afghanistan also remains one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises. Some 21.9 million people - approximately 45 percent of the population - require humanitarian assistance in 2026.”
She highlighted, “What we are witnessing are severe and growing restrictions - the imposition of systemic and institutionalized harm with long-term generational consequences for Afghan society as a whole. An estimated 3.8 million girls between 7 and 18 years of age are not in school, including more than 2.6 million adolescent girls. Each year, approximately 250,000 more girls are permanently excluded from secondary education pathways, creating a lost generation of talent and potential.”
Edem Wosornu, Director of the Crisis Response Division of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) also addressed the Council on behalf of Tom Fletcher, Emergency Relief Coordinator.
She said, “While a ceasefire in April has led to a reduction in violence, explosive weapons contamination continues to pose a deadly threat – especially to children. The conflict has also disrupted critical supply chains with the continued border closure affecting humanitarian programmes, especially food security and nutrition. A reopening of the border is urgently required to keep the response moving.”
She reported, “Hunger is growing across Afghanistan. Today, 4.7 million people are at risk of severe food insecurity (IPC Phase 4) – which is 50 per cent higher than during the same time last year. Some 3.7 million children are facing acute malnutrition. We continue to receive alarming reports of families forced into desperate choices, including selling daughters, simply to survive.”
She also said, “Activities supporting women and girls continue to be disproportionately affected by de facto authority restrictions, with at least six women’s spaces closed in Herat Province since March and the suspension of livelihoods activities for women. Female staff have also been stopped in Herat for what the de-facto authorities claimed to be inappropriate dress, inappropriate dress, and over the weekend we have received reports of dozens of women arrested due to alleged non-compliance with existing dress codes- including women health workers.”
Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the UN, said that his country “will not sit idle while suffering from terrorist acts. We will respond in self-defense as and when needed, and always in conformity with international law, including IHL.”
Afghan Ambassador Naseer Ahmad Faiq stressed, “Besides the United Nations and the European Union, and regional and international organizations, Islamic countries and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation must play a more active role in making clear to the Taliban that these draconian policies not only pose a threat to the future of Afghanistan but also harm the image of Islam worldwide.”
