Role UN in Afghanistan

Abstract

Afghanistan, due to its strategic location along the silk road has been a centre of human habitation for a long time. It has witnessed several military campaigns including Mongols, British, and Soviet Union among others. Afghanistan has had a very unstable modern political history dominated by terrorism, coups and invasions. It was the 9/11 which led to the US invasion of Afghanistan which lasted for nearly 20 years. The UN established a new political mission, United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan in 2002, to maintain peace and ensure development in the war torn country. The UNAMA is a political mission which was initially started to support the Bonn agreement, but its mandate was further changed over the years as per Afghanistan's needs. The UNAMA has a robust structure in place & all the UN agencies working in Afghanistan are united under the common umbrella of UNAMA to provide a single integrated response to any situation or issue. Currently, 20 agencies of the UN are working under UNAMA; the work of these agencies is subsequently elaborated in the paper. After the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban government, the UN is the only body best positioned to work for the people of Afghanistan. But it needs to change the mandate of UNAMA as per the situation, extend the mandate further and prioritize the work as per the severity of current issues. We have tried to structure some of these initiatives & how the response should be in the paper.