The United Nations Security Council’s latest report on Afghanistan, S/2025/796, offers a stark assessment four years after the Taliban’s return: Afghanistan is governed, but not reconciled.

While the Taliban have consolidated nationwide control and suppressed overt insurgency, fundamental political, security, humanitarian and regional challenges remain unresolved, leaving the country superficially stable yet structurally fragile.

The report notes measurable developments under Taliban rule, including a sharp drop in poppy cultivation. UN data shows opium cultivation down over 95 percent from its 2022 peak, with production falling 32 percent year-on-year in 2025. Yet the UN warns that Afghanistan’s narcotics economy persists, shifting toward methamphetamine and other synthetics. Rising meth seizures highlight a more clandestine........

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