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UNAMA chief says in farewell speech ‘Afghans will not be abandoned’

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Reflecting on her two years as Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General to Afghanistan, Deborah Lyons said Thursday that UNAMA’s mission in the country is necessary for a number of reasons, including that the country is “too important to the international community to be forgotten”.

In a statement to mark the end of her term in the country, Lyons said: “First, we have a historical legacy. The United Nations has had a political, human rights, humanitarian, and development presence in Afghanistan since the late 1980s. We have had some successes and some failures and as a result of the latter we have a moral responsibility to remain.

“Second, we need to address the needs of the most vulnerable Afghans through humanitarian assistance and support to their basic human needs.

“Third, Afghanistan is too important to the international community to be forgotten. UNAMA will remain as a credible observer and reporter on events on the ground and a reliable link between the Afghan people, the de facto authorities, and the international community.

“As such it will also continue as a symbol that the Afghan people will not be abandoned again by the world,” Lyons said.

She said however that as she leaves Afghanistan, her “heart breaks in particular for the millions of Afghan girls who are denied their right to education, and the many Afghan women full of talent who are being told to stay at home instead of using those talents to rebuild a society that now experiences far less conflict but in some ways as much fear as before.”

She said it was ironic that “now that there is space for everyone to help rebuild the country half of the population is confined and prevented from doing so.”

Lyons stated that she is convinced that the best hope lies in an engagement strategy that demonstrates to the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) authorities that a system that excludes women, minorities, and talented people will not endure, and that at the same time it is possible to construct a polity that is both inclusive and Islamic.

In conclusion she said: “It has been said that when a traveler visits Afghanistan, the country confiscates their soul, and they must return now and then to see themselves. I leave with that saying very much in my mind.”

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Four members of one family killed in Helmand in Pakistan airstrike

The family, originally from Ghazni province, reportedly operated a small restaurant in the area.

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Four members of a family were killed and seven others wounded in an airstrike in Safar area of Garmser district in southern Afghanistan’s Helmand province, according to local reports.

The family, originally from Ghazni province, reportedly operated a small restaurant in the area.

The bodies of those killed and the wounded were transported by helicopter to Ghazni province for burial and medical treatment, according to the reports.

 

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UNAMA acting chief visits Islam Qala border to assess support for returnees

UN launched a $529 million response plan aimed at assisting around 2.7 million Afghans expected to return from Iran and Pakistan between April and December 2026.

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Georgette Gagnon, UNAMA’s acting head, visited western Afghanistan, including the Islam Qala border crossing, to see firsthand UN efforts to support millions of Afghans returning from neighboring Iran and Pakistan.

Earlier this year, the UN launched a $529 million response plan aimed at assisting around 2.7 million Afghans expected to return from Iran and Pakistan between April and December 2026.

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Trump: Unlike Afghanistan, US took all equipment from Iraq

Trump said the withdrawal from Iraq marked the end of what he described as a costly military involvement, adding that he had set a clear mission and instructed commanders to complete it without allowing the US presence to become permanent.

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US President Donald Trump on Wednesday compared the withdrawal of US forces from Iraq with the 2021 US withdrawal from Afghanistan, saying military equipment had been left behind in Afghanistan, while US forces leaving Iraq took their equipment with them.

Speaking at a White House event, Trump referred to the final departure of US-led coalition forces and equipment from Erbil Air Base in northern Iraq, which marked the end of the US military mission against Daesh in Iraq.

“I said, take a little longer. Take everyone. We left all of the equipment, if you remember, in Afghanistan. Everything was left behind,” Trump said.

“I said, ‘I want every screw taken. If there’s a screw lying on the ground, take it. If we have a canvas tent, take it.’ We took everything,” he added.

He also mentioned the August 2021 attack at Kabul airport that killed 13 US soldiers.

Trump said he had become acquainted with the families of the US service members killed in the attack and also highlighted those who were seriously wounded.

“What happened to those—to their children should never have been allowed to happen,” he said, adding that 48 wounded service members were severely injured and “never get mentioned.”

Trump said the withdrawal from Iraq marked the end of what he described as a costly military involvement, adding that he had set a clear mission and instructed commanders to complete it without allowing the US presence to become permanent.

The US military announced on Wednesday that its forces and equipment had completed an orderly departure from Erbil Air Base, formally ending Operation Inherent Resolve in Iraq. The US-led mission began in 2014 to fight Daesh after the group seized large areas of Iraq and Syria. The US is continuing its counter-Daesh mission in Syria from a headquarters in Jordan.

Trump said the US had entered Iraq to fight the Islamic State and that the group no longer controlled a territorial “caliphate.”

“We came to fight a caliphate, and there is no longer a caliphate, so we are going home indeed,” he said.

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