Pakistani Drones Struck Border Facilities In Paktika, Says Taliban

Speaking at a UN Security Council meeting on women, peace and security on Tuesday, 27 October, Guterres named Afghanistan alongside Mali, Yemen and Somalia as countries where women and girls face severe restrictions and increasing repression of their rights.

The UN chief said women and girls continued to face violence, discrimination, deprivation and abuse. He added that girls were being denied education, a fundamental right, while women politicians, journalists and human rights defenders were being marginalised and targeted.

Guterres cited support for local women-led organisations in Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Syria as part of the United Nations' efforts to advance the women, peace and security agenda.

He warned that funding cuts had worsened conditions for women and girls, forcing some women's organisations to suspend their activities. According to Guterres, the closure of clinics and safe spaces, along with the loss of vital humanitarian assistance, were among the consequences of reduced funding.

The UN secretary-general said that while global military spending had reached nearly $2.9 trillion last year, humanitarian assistance continued to decline sharply.

He urged countries to honour their development aid commitments and immediately restore funding for organisations supporting women and girls in conflict-affected areas.

Criticising the gap between international commitments and action, Guterres said that 26 years after the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 1325, there had often been plenty of words, but not enough action.

He stressed that women's participation in peace processes was not merely symbolic and that their meaningful involvement increased the likelihood of achieving lasting peace. According to Guterres, societies become stronger when women and girls can live free from fear and violence.

Guterres said women accounted for just 5% of negotiators across 57 peace processes last year, while fewer than one in five peace agreements contained at least one reference to women, girls, gender or sexual violence. He described the gap between commitments and implementation as unacceptable.

The UN chief called for binding targets and quotas for women's participation, stressing that their needs and demands must be reflected in all negotiations, ceasefires and peace agreements.

He also said the number of conflict-related sexual violence cases verified by the United Nations had exceeded 9,700 last year, adding that the actual figure was undoubtedly higher.

Guterres identified women's participation at every peace negotiating table, increased funding and efforts to combat violence against women and girls as three urgent priorities. He also called for full accountability for perpetrators of violence.

He urged countries to incorporate their commitments on women, peace and security into national laws and policies and to ensure women's economic security.

"Equality is not a dream. It is a decision," Guterres said.

The Associated Press reported that Taliban forces had fired mortar shells at residential areas and the market in Angoor Adda, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

According to the report, one of the shells struck a house, killing one person and wounding five other family members. Several shops in the local market were also damaged.

Samar Haroon Bilour, a local official in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, wrote on X on Tuesday, citing security sources, that Taliban forces had targeted residential areas in Angoor Adda. She said the attack had sparked anger among local residents and prompted the Pakistani army to destroy several Taliban border posts in a retaliatory operation.

A local official in South Waziristan also said Taliban forces had opened fire on civilian homes and shops in the Angoor Adda market without provocation.

According to the official, Pakistani forces stationed along the border responded to the attacks strongly and effectively.

Faisal Karim Kundi, governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, condemned the attack on residential areas and the Angoor Adda market, describing it as unprovoked aggression by the Taliban.

Pakistani officials also said the country's border forces remained on high alert and were prepared to respond to any further attacks.

The Taliban has not yet commented on the clashes or Pakistan's claim that its border posts were destroyed. It remains unclear what triggered the exchange of fire between the two sides.

The clashes occurred days after Islamabad renewed its demand that the Taliban take concrete action against armed groups that Pakistan says use Afghan territory to launch attacks.

Border tensions between Pakistan and the Taliban have escalated in recent months, with the two sides repeatedly clashing along the frontier.

Pakistan has also carried out several air strikes inside Afghanistan this year, saying the operations targeted positions belonging to armed groups operating in Pakistan.

Islamabad has repeatedly accused the Taliban of sheltering Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA).

The TTP is a separate organisation from the Afghan Taliban, although the two groups maintain close ties.

The Taliban has rejected these allegations, saying it does not allow Afghan territory to be used against other countries. The group also maintains that insecurity in Pakistan is an internal matter.

Abdul Rahman Munir, the Taliban's deputy interior minister for counter-narcotics, said improved security and the group's efforts to combat drugs had contributed to a decline in narcotics cultivation and production.

Meanwhile, Abdul Mateen Qani, spokesman for the Taliban's Interior Ministry, said most narcotics, including traditional and synthetic drugs, were being smuggled into Afghanistan from Pakistan through border crossings.

Qani called on Islamabad to fulfil its responsibilities in preventing drug trafficking.

He stressed that counter-narcotics operations must continue and called for greater attention to security at Afghanistan's customs facilities and borders to prevent drug smuggling.

He also urged the international community to increase cooperation in combating narcotics, saying efforts to tackle drug trafficking could not be fully effective without regional and international support.

Munir said expanding alternative crops and supporting farmers could play a significant role in preventing a resurgence of poppy cultivation.

He added that providing sustainable livelihoods for farmers was essential to the success of counter-narcotics efforts.

The Taliban has banned poppy cultivation in Afghanistan, and its officials have repeatedly claimed a sharp decline in opium production since the ban was introduced.

In a report published in June 2026, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said Afghanistan had produced around 80 percent of the world's illicit opium until 2022, but production had fallen by 95 precent following the Taliban's enforcement of the poppy cultivation ban.

According to the UN report, the area under poppy cultivation declined from approximately 232,000 hectares in 2022 to 10,200 hectares in 2025, while opium production fell from 6,200 tonnes to around 296 tonnes.

However, the UN warned that existing opium stockpiles in Afghanistan were expected to last until the end of 2026.

In an interview with Spanish newspaper El País, she said Afghan women's greatest concern was that the world would gradually become accustomed to Taliban rule.

Calvet said: I am concerned that, over time, the system of oppression against women will become normalised, a system in which the repression of women has reached such extremes that I have not witnessed anything comparable anywhere else in the world.

She noted that officially inviting Taliban representatives to Brussels for technical talks contradicted the European Union's position of not recognising the Taliban government and could contribute to normalising relations with the group.

The legal expert stressed that the international community must not forget that millions of women in Afghanistan continue to face severe restrictions and should be given opportunities to express their demands and share their experiences.

Referring to negotiations on a future convention on crimes against humanity, Calvet said the process provided an opportunity to include gender apartheid among internationally recognised crimes.

She explained that although such provisions would probably not apply retrospectively, formally recognising the offence could strengthen other efforts to secure justice and prosecute those responsible.

The legal expert also stressed that Afghanistan's neighbouring countries and Muslim-majority nations had a responsibility to speak out against Taliban policies and make clear that the group's actions did not represent Islam or Sharia law.

The People's Tribunal for Women of Afghanistan is a civil society initiative established to examine violations of the rights of Afghan women and girls. It was held in Madrid in 2025.

The tribunal aims to draw international attention to the systematic oppression of Afghan women and girls under Taliban rule, document crimes against humanity, particularly gender-based discrimination and persecution, and increase international pressure to hold the Taliban accountable.

Speaking at a meeting at the United Nations headquarters in New York on Monday, 26 October, Gumbonzvanda addressed the situation of women in conflict-affected areas, rising conflict-related sexual violence, women's role in peace processes and the need for their participation in negotiations.

Gumbonzvanda said that Afghanistan today faces the most severe women's rights crisis in the world, girls are being denied an education that could transform their lives.

She also warned that wars had become increasingly deadly for women and girls, stressing that the international community must not remain indifferent to rising civilian casualties and the suffering of women and girls.

The UN official said more than 37,000 civilians were killed in armed conflicts last year, a quarter of whom were women and girls.

According to Gumbonzvanda, more than 750 million women and girls live within 50 kilometers of areas affected by active conflict, while at least 25 women and girls are killed every day.

The UN Women deputy executive director said war also posed serious threats to women's access to healthcare, including pregnancy and maternity services.

Referring to the situation in Gaza, she said the destruction of hospitals and maternity facilities, alongside disruptions to access to basic necessities, had been accompanied by a 41% decline in live births and a 300% increase in miscarriages.

Gumbonzvanda also expressed concern over rising conflict-related sexual violence, saying the United Nations had verified 9,788 cases in 2025.

According to Gumbonzvanda, women accounted for just 5% of negotiators across 57 peace processes in 2025, while none of the 13 ceasefire agreements explicitly prohibited conflict-related sexual violence.

The UN official called for women to participate in all peace negotiations as decision-makers and urged increased funding for women's organisations.

In Afghanistan, women and girls have been deprived of their rights to education, employment, participation in public life and many other fundamental freedoms. Over the past five years, Taliban restrictions have increasingly excluded them from various aspects of social, economic and political life.