United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) is a UN Special Political Mission officially tasked with assisting the people of Afghanistan. It is headquartered in the capital, Kabul, and maintains a field presence across the country; it also has liaison offices in Pakistan and Iran.

UNAMA was established on 28 March 2002 by United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Resolution 1401. It replaced the United Nations Special Mission to Afghanistan and was mandated to provide political, administrative, and humanitarian support to Afghanistan.

Reviewed annually, this mandate has been consistently extended and altered over time to reflect the needs of the country; it was most recently extended for one year, on 17 March 2025, by the UNSC 2777 (2025). In 2023, the UNSC passed a resolution recognizing the important role that the United Nations will continue to play in promoting peace and stability in Afghanistan; later that year, a subsequent resolution called for an integrated and independent assessment with forward-looking recommendations for an "integrated and coherent approach" to address Afghanistan's challenges.

The United Nations had been involved in the region since 1946 when Afghanistan joined the General Assembly. Agencies such as UNICEF have been operating in Afghanistan since 1949.