Afghanistan: Humanitarian Access Snapshot (March 2025)

Key Highlights

Humanitarian partners continue to observe humanitarian access constraints impacting the operational environment, with some 66[1] access incidents reported in March 2025. The number of incidents during the reporting period has shown a 6 percent decrease compared to the previous month and a 54 percent decrease compared to the same time last year. The reduction in reported incidents does not necessarily indicate an improvement in the overall access landscape or operational environment. Rather, the decline is primarily attributed to the suspension of United States funding, which led many humanitarian partners to scale down or close their operations, and as a result, fewer access challenges were encountered or reported. Furthermore, the incidents in March resulted in the temporary suspension of 31 projects and the temporary closure of 12 facilities. The most affected regions are the Southern, Central and Western regions.

The main access challenge was the “interference in the implementation of humanitarian activities” with 40 incidents reported, representing 60 per cent of the total incidents. These incidents include imposing administrative bureaucracy, restricting female staff participation and requesting sensitive staff and project data. Moreover, there have been delays in obtaining provincial-level approvals despite existing MoUs, the enforcement of Mahram requirements for female staff, and disruptions of health and nutrition programmes. Additionally, unannounced visits by the Department of Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (PVPV)- which were mainly gender-related incidents- demands for vehicle ownership data and financial records and pressures to change implementation modalities significantly impacted the delivery of life-saving assistance.

In March, the “physical environment relating to weather hazard” and “restrictions on movement of agencies, personnel, or goods within the affected country” have also posed additional access constraints to the humanitarian response delivery, with eight and two incidents reported, respectively. Heavy rainfall, flash floods and landslides led to road blockages, infrastructure damage and the suspension of field movements, particularly in hard-to-reach districts. Additionally, challenges at checkpoints halted staff movements temporarily.

In March, five incidents of violence against humanitarian personnel, assets, and facilities were reported. These incidents have resulted in the arrests and detention of four staff members, injury of one staff member and two physical attacks or violence against humanitarian workers. These incidents have continued to impact the operational environment, where the safety and security of humanitarian staff are at risk.

In 2025, the DfA issued 19 directives that significantly impacted the humanitarian response in Afghanistan. In March alone, five directives were issued in the Central, Northern and Eastern regions. The majority of these directives involved demands for sensitive data, including staff lists, beneficiary names, and asset details— imposed restrictions on programming, interfered with recruitment processes, and enforced administrative requirements such as asset registration and transportation taxes. The issuing authorities primarily included the Ministry / Department of Economy (11 directives), the Department of Public Health (two directives), the Department of Finance (two directives), the Provincial Governor (two directives) and one directive each from the Ministry/ Department of Education and the Department of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock.