Russia asks US to return 'stolen' Afghan funds as UN seeks end to women ban

The UN Security Council has adopted a resolution calling on the Afghan Taliban to "swiftly reverse" all restrictive measures against women, condemning in particular its ban on Afghan women working for the United Nations.

Thursday's resolution, unanimously adopted by all 15 Council members, said the ban announced in early April "undermines human rights and humanitarian principles."

More broadly, the Council called on the Taliban to "swiftly reverse the policies and practices that restrict the enjoyment by women and girls of their human rights and fundamental freedoms."

It cited access to education, employment, freedom of movement, and "women's full, equal and meaningful participation in public life."

The Council also urged "all States and organisations to use their influence" to "promote an urgent reversal of these policies and practices."

The body stressed "the dire economic and humanitarian situation," and the "critical importance of a continued presence" of the UN mission in Afghanistan and other UN agencies.

"The world will not sit by silently as women in Afghanistan are erased from society," United Arab Emirates' ambassador to the UN Lana Zaki Nusseibeh said.

Russia lashes out at US

But despite his country's vote in favour of the resolution, Russian ambassador Vasily Nebenzia criticised the text, saying it did not go far enough, blaming the West.

"We seriously regret and are disappointed that steps and a more ambitious approach and texts were blocked by Western colleagues," he said.

"If you're so sincere, why not return the assets you've stolen from the country and without any preconditions," he said, referencing the $7 billion in Afghan central bank assets frozen by the United States after the Taliban took over the country in 2021.

"As of today, what we have seen is only that assets have been transferred from one account to another, but not a single penny returned to the Afghan people," China's Deputy UN Ambassador Geng Shuang told the council.

In September, the United States announced the creation of a fund based in Switzerland to manage half the money.

The United Nations announced on April 4 that the Taliban had banned Afghan women from working for UN offices countrywide, a prohibition that had previously spared NGOS.

The move sparked opprobrium from the West and a United Nations review of the world body's Afghanistan operations, which is to last until May 5.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres is organising a meeting in Doha next week with envoys from various countries to "reinvigorate the international engagement around the common objectives for a durable way forward on the situation in Afghanistan."