Afghanistan Issues - 2024

Disputes - international

Afghanistan-China: none identified

Afghanistan-Iran: Afghan and Iranian commissioners have discussed boundary monument densification and resurvey; Iran protests Afghanistan's restricting flow of dammed Helmand River tributaries during drought

Afghanistan-Pakistan: Pakistan has built fences in some portions of its border with Afghanistan which remains open in some areas to terrorist and other illegal activities; their alignments may not always be in conformance with the Durand Line and original surveyed definitions of the boundary; Pakistan demarcates the Durand Line differently from Afghanistan, and thus portions of the Pakistani fence may lie within what Afghanistan (and most of the international community, including the US) would consider Afghan territory; successive governments in Afghanistan, including the Taliban, have not accepted the 1947 demarcation line

Afghanistan-Tajikistan: none identified

Afghanistan-Turkmenistan: none identified

Afghanistan-Uzbekistan: none identified; boundary follows Amu Darya River as delimited in the Afghan-Soviet treaties and not by the river's current course; the boundary was delimited and possibly demarcated during Soviet times (pre-1991); no current negotiations between Afghanistan and Uzbekistan to redelimit the boundary have been identified 

Refugees and internally displaced persons

refugees (country of origin): 59,486 (Pakistan) (mid-year 2022)

IDPs: 4.394 million (mostly Pashtuns and Kuchis displaced in the south and west due to natural disasters and political instability) (2022)

Trafficking in persons

tier rating: Tier 3 — Afghanistan does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so, therefore, Afghanistan remained on Tier 3; the Taliban employed or recruited child soldiers and sex slaves (including bacha bazi – a practice where men, particular community leaders, government officials, and armed groups, exploit boys for social and sexual entertainment); the Taliban made no efforts to address or prevent labor and sex trafficking, nor did they identify or protect any victims; the Taliban continued to undermine the rights of women, minorities, and other vulnerable populations and hindered the work of NGOs, further exacerbating trafficking (2023)

trafficking profile: human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in Afghanistan and exploit Afghan victims abroad; most Afghan trafficking victims are children forced to work in carpet making, brick kilns, domestic servitude, sex trafficking, herding, begging, opium production and trade, salt mining, weapons trafficking, and truck driving; international experts indicate child labor increased after the Taliban takeover and estimate 25% of Afghan children are involved in child labor; some children are forced to migrate for work to other parts of Afghanistan or to Iran, Pakistan, or Turkey to support their families, and some are sold to traffickers to work as indentured servants; some families marry off underage daughters to receive a dowry payment, force children into labor with physical violence, or sell their children into sex trafficking; the Taliban and non-state armed groups, including ISIS-K, continue to recruit and use children in combat and support roles; the Taliban have detention facilities where they force detainees, including child and adult sex trafficking victims charged with “moral crimes,” into forced labor; sexual exploitation of boys, including bacha bazi, remains pervasive nationwide, and traffickers subject some boys to such exploitation abroad; restrictions on the movement of women and girls, and severely diminished access to employment and education, increase their vulnerability to trafficking; LGBTQI+ individuals are among the most vulnerable groups in Afghanistan under the Taliban; members of ethnic and religious minorities also are increasingly vulnerable to exploitation; Afghan men, women, and children seeking employment abroad, primarily in Iran, Pakistan, and Europe, are at risk of labor or sex trafficking; Afghan women and girls sold into marriage in Afghanistan, India, Iran, and Pakistan are exploited in sex trafficking and domestic servitude by their husbands (2023)

note:  The US has not recognized the Taliban or another entity as the government of Afghanistan. All references to “the pre-August 15, 2021 government” refer to the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. References to the Taliban do not denote or imply that the US recognizes the Taliban as the government of Afghanistan. (2023)

Illicit drugs

the world’s largest supplier of opiates, but it is not a major supplier to the United States; 233,000 hectares (ha) of opium poppy cultivated in Afghanistan in 2022; opium from poppies used to produce morphine and heroin; also produces large quantities of methamphetamine, cannabis, and cannabis products such as hashish; one of the world’s largest populations suffering from substance abuse; major source of precursor or essential chemicals used in the production of illicit narcotics. (2022)