Five years after the Taliban's return to power, Afghanistan's women's aid organizations stand at the edge of extinction — not from decree, but from abandonment. The United Nations warns that more than half of the country's surveyed women's groups may close within a year as international donors withdraw and a $1.7 billion humanitarian appeal goes three-quarters unfunded. In a nation where over 100 Taliban decrees have reshaped the boundaries of women's existence, these organizations represent some of the last institutional voices still bearing witness to that erasure. The question now is whethe
UN warns half of Afghan women's aid groups face closure as Taliban restrictions deepen
Millions of Afghan women and girls face severe restrictions on education, employment, and movement; seven in ten report poor mental health; over half leave homes only once or twice monthly.
The infrastructure of resistance quietly disappears
Mark
Why does the funding crisis matter so much right now? The Taliban has been in power for five years already.
Mimi
Because the organizations are still there, still operating, still documenting what's happening to women. Once they close, that witness disappears. The Taliban doesn't need to arrest everyone—it just needs the money to dry up.
Mark
What do these organizations actually do?
Mimi
They provide legal aid, healthcare, education, shelter. They run schools for girls when the government won't. They document abuses. They're the infrastructure of resistance, even if it's quiet resistance.
Mark
The survey found 74 organizations. That seems small for a country of 40 million people.
Mimi
It is small. That's the point. There used to be more. Many have already closed or fled. These 74 are what's left, and half of them are about to vanish.
Mark
If the UN's appeal is only 25 percent funded, who's cutting the money?
Mimi
Donor fatigue is real. Afghanistan is far away. The war ended—or seemed to. People move on to other crises. But the crisis here didn't end. It just changed shape.
Mark
Seven in ten women report bad mental health. That's staggering.
Mimi
It's the accumulation. You can't leave your home. You can't work. Your daughter can't go to school. There's no horizon. That's not a policy—that's a slow erasure.
Mark
What happens in a year if these organizations close?
Mimi
Afghan women lose the last institutions that acknowledge their humanity. The Taliban wins the argument that there's no alternative.
Il Polso
- More than half of 74 surveyed women's organizations in Afghanistan are likely to shut down within twelve months as funding dries up and donors retreat.
- The UN's $1.7 billion humanitarian appeal for Afghanistan has received only 25% of what was requested, while nearly three-quarters of women's groups faced cuts in 2025 alone.
- The Taliban has issued over 100 decrees since 2021, banning girls from secondary schools and universities, restricting movement, and squeezing women out of public life entirely — seven in ten Afghan women now describe their mental health as poor.
- Fifty-six nations issued a joint UN statement calling on the Taliban to reverse its repression, but diplomatic pressure has yet to translate into the sustained funding that keeps advocacy organizations operational.
- Without intervention, the institutions documenting and resisting systematic repression may vanish, leaving millions of Afghan women and girls without even the fragile infrastructure of organized support.
Five years after the Taliban's return to power, Afghanistan's women's aid organizations stand at the edge of extinction — not from decree, but from abandonment. The United Nations warns that more than half of the country's surveyed women's groups may close within a year as international donors withdraw and a $1.7 billion humanitarian appeal goes three-quarters unfunded. In a nation where over 100 Taliban decrees have reshaped the boundaries of women's existence, these organizations represent some of the last institutional voices still bearing witness to that erasure. The question now is whether the world's attention, already stretched thin, will hold long enough to keep them alive.
Five years after the Taliban reclaimed Afghanistan, the United Nations is warning that the country's women's aid organizations may not survive another year. Susan Ferguson, UN Women's special representative in Afghanistan, sounded the alarm after a survey of 74 women's groups found that more than half lack the funding to continue operating within twelve months. The cause is as stark as the consequence: donors are pulling back, and the money is nearly gone.
The numbers are difficult to absorb. The UN requested $1.7 billion in humanitarian aid for Afghanistan — only a quarter has arrived. Nearly three-quarters of women's organizations saw funding cuts in 2025, and about two-thirds have six months or fewer of reserves left. Ferguson made her appeal on Friday, the same day the Taliban marked five years since the American withdrawal handed them the country.
Those five years have been defined by methodical restriction. More than 100 Taliban decrees have reshaped Afghan women's lives — banning girls from secondary schools and universities, limiting movement, closing off employment and healthcare. The human cost surfaces in the data: more than half of 3,200 women surveyed said they leave their homes only once or twice a month. Seven in ten described their mental health as bad or very bad. This week, as the Taliban celebrated its anniversary with flags, murals, and a cricket match across Kabul, women and girls were barred from attending.
Fifty-six countries, including the United States, Britain, France, and Germany, issued a joint statement at the United Nations calling the Taliban's treatment of women a "defining feature" of its rule and urging reversal. But diplomatic language has not filled the funding gap. The women's organizations that remain are among the few institutions still advocating for half the population — and without sustained international support, even they may soon go silent.
Five years after the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan, the United Nations is sounding an alarm about the survival of the country's women's aid organizations. More than half of the 74 women's groups surveyed this past April are likely to shut down or suspend their work within the next twelve months, according to Susan Ferguson, UN Women's special representative in the country. The reason is brutally simple: money is running out, and donors are pulling back.
Ferguson made her appeal to donor nations on Friday, as the Taliban marked five years since the American military withdrawal handed the country back to them in August 2021. The numbers tell a stark story. The United Nations has requested $1.7 billion in humanitarian aid for Afghanistan, but only a quarter of that has materialized. Nearly three-quarters of the women's organizations operating in the country experienced funding cuts during 2025. Worse, about two-thirds of these groups reported they have six months or less of operational funding left in reserve. Without intervention, the math is simple: they will close.
The funding crisis arrives as the Taliban has tightened its grip on Afghan women's lives with methodical precision. Since returning to power, the group has issued more than 100 decrees restricting women's rights, touching nearly every dimension of existence—education, employment, movement, healthcare, access to justice. Girls remain banned from secondary schools despite repeated Taliban promises to find an ideologically acceptable path forward. Women are barred from universities entirely. The human toll is visible in the data: more than half of 3,200 women surveyed by UN Women said they now leave their homes only once or twice a month. Seven in ten women described their mental health as bad or very bad.
The restrictions extend even to celebration. This week, the Taliban installed bright white flags of the Islamic Emirate across Kabul, with new murals proclaiming "Independence is a sign of dignity, pride and identity." The group is hosting a cricket match as part of the five-year anniversary festivities. Women and girls are barred from attending.
On Friday, fifty-six countries—including Britain, France, Germany, Japan, the United States, and the United Arab Emirates—issued a joint statement at the United Nations calling on the Taliban to reverse its restrictions on women and girls. They described the "systematic repression of women and girls" as having "become a defining feature of the current system." Ferguson's warning about the aid organizations suggests that without sustained international funding, even these organizations documenting and resisting that repression may soon disappear.
The crisis facing women's groups sits within a larger collapse of Afghan society. More than half of primary school-aged children are out of school. Child malnutrition has reached critical levels in a third of the country's provinces. Earthquakes and floods have killed thousands and damaged infrastructure. While deaths from terrorism have fallen sharply since the Taliban took control, the country has become entangled in deadly border confrontations with Iran and Pakistan. Diplomatically, Afghanistan remains isolated—Russia is the only country to formally recognize Taliban rule. In this landscape of fracture and isolation, the women's organizations that remain are among the few institutions still advocating for the rights of half the population.
Citazioni salienti
Systematic repression of women and girls has become a defining feature of the current system— Joint statement from 56 countries at the UN
Donor countries must not cut funding for women's programmes, as doing so would only deepen the suffering of Afghan women— Susan Ferguson, UN Women's special representative in Afghanistan
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World & Diplomacy