The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) says more than 75 precent of Afghanistan’s population is facing livelihood insecurity, with female-headed households among the most affected.
In a new report, the agency said only about 7 precent of women in Afghanistan are employed and that 88 precent of female-headed households lack access to basic needs.
Since returning to power, the Taliban have imposed policies restricting women’s access to education and employment. As poverty has spread across Afghanistan, the ban on women’s work has placed female-headed households under increasing economic strain.
Experts have repeatedly warned that Taliban restrictions on women’s education and employment threaten their future and undermine long-term economic stability.
In late 2025, the UN Security Council said Taliban policies affecting women cost Afghanistan’s economy more than $1 billion annually.
In its report, the council described the situation of women and girls in Afghanistan as “dire,” noting that eight out of ten Afghan women are deprived of education, employment and vocational training opportunities.
Afghanistan remains among the world’s most corrupt countries, according to Transparency International’s annual Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), which shows the country’s ranking worsening slightly in 2025 under Taliban rule.
The report shows Afghanistan scored 16 out of 100, ranking 169th out of 182 countries. In 2024, the country scored 17 points, placing 165th out of 180 countries.
Transparency International measures perceived public-sector corruption on a scale from zero to 100, with zero representing the highest level of corruption and 100 indicating countries considered free of corruption.
Denmark, Finland, Singapore, New Zealand and Norway ranked as the least corrupt countries in the latest index. South Sudan, Somalia, Venezuela, Yemen and Libya were listed among the most corrupt.
Afghanistan’s score has declined over recent years. The country scored 20 points in 2023, ranking 162nd, and 24 points in 2022, ranking 150th.
For the first time in more than a decade, the global average CPI score fell to 42 out of 100, reflecting what Transparency International described as a broader decline in anti-corruption performance worldwide.
According to the report, 122 of 182 countries scored below 50, indicating widespread corruption in the public sector. Only five countries scored above 80, down from 12 countries a decade ago.
Transparency International said the decline in scores, including in some high-performing democracies, shows that corruption risks can increase even where institutions once appeared stable.
The report said countries that restrict civic space often struggle to control corruption. Among the 50 countries with the steepest CPI declines, 36 have imposed restrictions on civil liberties. It also noted that more than 90 precent of journalists killed while investigating corruption were in countries with low CPI scores.
Fragile states such as Afghanistan, under Taliban administration, remain near the bottom of the index. Transparency International said limited civic space, opaque political-financing systems, weak checks and balances, and the absence of independent judicial institutions leave such countries particularly vulnerable to corruption.
The organisation also highlighted declining corruption-perception scores in several democracies, including the United States (64), Canada (75), the United Kingdom (70), France (66), Sweden (80) and New Zealand (81).
Countries with strong democratic institutions generally perform better in the index, while authoritarian systems tend to rank among the worst performers. In countries such as Venezuela (10) and Azerbaijan (30), the report said corruption is structural and embedded across multiple levels of governance.
Transparency International called on governments worldwide to strengthen independent judicial systems and oversight institutions, improve transparency in political financing, protect media freedom and take stronger action against cross-border flows of illicit money.
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) held the third meeting of the private sector working group under the Doha Process in Kabul.
UNAMA said the meeting focused on supporting the private sector, creating employment opportunities, strengthening entrepreneurship, improving access to financial resources and reinforcing Afghanistan’s banking system.
Since the Taliban’s return to power, Afghanistan’s private sector has faced severe restrictions on access to banking services, money transfers and investment for more than four years, leading to a sharp decline in economic activity.
At the meeting, held on Tuesday, representatives of the Taliban presented information on what they described as “achievements and progress” since the group regained control of Afghanistan. UNAMA and several participants, however, emphasised ongoing challenges, the need for coordination and the importance of finding practical ways to support the private sector.
According to UNAMA, the Doha Process working groups were established after the third meeting of special envoys in Doha. Their purpose is to create a structured framework for engagement on specific issues, including the economy and the private sector.
Pakistan’s defence minister said the country’s involvement in the wars in Afghanistan was driven by political considerations rather than religion.
He added that the Soviet presence in Afghanistan should not be viewed solely as an “occupation”.
Speaking on Monday in Pakistan’s National Assembly, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said Pakistan did not participate in the conflicts in Afghanistan out of religious commitment or in defence of Islam, but to secure political legitimacy and support from major global powers.
He said the Afghan government at the time had invited Soviet forces into the country and argued that describing their presence as an “occupation” reflected a narrative promoted by the United States.
Asif added that Pakistan even altered its national education curriculum during those years to align with wartime policies, saying the consequences of those changes remain unresolved. He said history had been rewritten to match the official narrative of the conflict.
“Pakistan Paid the Price and Was Abandoned”
According to Asif, Pakistan again entered conflict after 1999 in an effort to secure US support and was drawn into what he described as a rented war. He criticised the decisions of former Pakistani leaders General Zia-ul-Haq and General Pervez Musharraf to involve the country in Afghanistan’s wars.
He said that Pakistan paid the price and was ultimately abandoned, and was used like tissue paper and then discarded.
He said the decision turned Pakistan into a frontline state fighting wars on behalf of others.
During two decades of conflict against the Taliban and al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, Pakistan served as one of the main transit routes for international coalition forces and equipment. The use of Karachi port and land and air corridors for supplies to Afghanistan became a key strategic asset for Islamabad.
However, the United States repeatedly accused Pakistan both publicly and privately of sheltering insurgent networks, particularly the Haqqani network. Former US Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Mike Mullen once described the Haqqani network as a veritable arm of Pakistan’s intelligence services.
Asif said Pakistan must acknowledge its past mistakes to overcome the consequences of those policies. He added that Pakistani society does not need to prove its religious identity and should instead focus on strengthening its ties to its own country and people.
Islamabad Mosque Attacker “Trained in Afghanistan”
At the same parliamentary session, Pakistan’s minister for parliamentary affairs, Tariq Fazal Chaudhry, said the attacker behind the recent suicide bombing in Islamabad was a resident of Peshawar who had received training in Afghanistan.
He alleged the training was carried out with Indian support and claimed New Delhi played a direct role in the operation.
Chaudhry said the attacker first opened fire on security guards before entering the imambargah, a Shia place of worship, and detonating explosives inside the mosque. According to him, 33 worshippers most of them young people were killed in the attack, and about 150 others were injured.
He identified the attacker as Yasir Khan and said four additional suspects had been arrested on suspicion of assisting him.
An Afghan man who previously served in Afghanistan’s former special forces was killed in a violent attack in Bergen, Norway, police and family members said.
Norwegian police said the incident occurred on Sunday evening, in the Arna district of Bergen, where the victim was assaulted outside his residence. He died from his injuries while being transported to hospital. His wife was also injured in the attack.
Two relatives of the victim told Afghanistan International that the man had served in Afghanistan’s former Unit 222 special forces and had sought refuge in Norway with his wife after the collapse of the previous Afghan government in 2021.
Police confirmed Monday that the killing appeared to be intentional and said a forensic examination of the body would be conducted. Authorities have launched a large-scale search operation using police dogs and drones and have set up checkpoints in several parts of the city to locate the suspect, who reportedly fled the scene before officers arrived.
No arrests have been made so far, and investigators have not released information about a possible motive.
The incident comes amid concerns among some Afghan residents in Norway following Oslo’s decision earlier this year to transfer control of Afghanistan’s embassy to Taliban representatives. Some members of the Afghan community have expressed worries about their safety and personal information.
A relative of the victim said the family had not yet received any details from police about the identity of the attacker or the motive behind the killing.
Tajikistan’s foreign minister, Sirojiddin Muhriddin, said the country’s security institutions are cooperating with the Taliban to prevent tensions along the Afghanistan–Tajikistan border.
Muhriddin said Tajikistan has resumed operations at border markets with Afghanistan and continues to supply electricity to the country.
Speaking about bilateral relations, he said Dushanbe engages with the Taliban in line with its national interests.
“Every independent country has the right to pursue policies based on its national interests,” Muhriddin said, adding that many countries particularly those bordering Afghanistan have also shaped their engagement with the country according to their own priorities.
He said trade between Tajikistan and Afghanistan has increased, with total economic exchanges exceeding $110 million last year.
Muhriddin called on the international community not to abandon Afghanistan as it faces complex social and economic challenges.
The foreign minister also addressed recent armed incidents along the border, saying security and law-enforcement agencies from both sides are working together to prevent similar events.
According to Muhriddin, the Taliban have assured Tajikistan they will take necessary measures to prevent future incidents and conduct thorough investigations into border-related violence.
Recently, Tajik security forces said they prevented five Afghan smugglers from illegally crossing into Tajikistan. Three were killed in an armed clash and two others fled back into Afghanistan, officials said.
Earlier, in two separate attacks launched from Afghan territory into Tajik border areas on November 26 and November 30 last year, five Chinese citizens were killed and five others were wounded.
Tajikistan condemned those attacks and called on the Taliban to arrest those responsible.
