Rabab Fatima takes up post as UN special representative in Afghanistan
Rabab Fatima, a seasoned Bangladeshi diplomat, has officially begun work as the UN Secretary-General’s special representative and head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA). UNAMA said she has arrived in Kabul and assumed her responsibilities.
She replaces Kyrgyzstan’s Roza Otunbayeva, who led UNAMA from September 2022 to September 2025. Fatima has more than 30 years of experience in civil service, bilateral and multilateral diplomacy, and policymaking.
She previously served as the UN Deputy Secretary-General and High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States. Fatima was also Bangladesh’s ambassador to the United Nations from 2019 to 2022 and played a role in leading the executive boards of several major UN funds and programmes.
She was the first woman to chair the UN Peacebuilding Commission in 2022 and also served as vice-president of the 77th session of the UN General Assembly. Before joining the United Nations, Fatima served as Bangladesh’s ambassador to Japan and as a senior official in the country’s foreign ministry.
Her appointment comes as the Taliban administration has imposed sweeping restrictions on women and is seeking to exclude women and girls from public life in Afghanistan. Otunbayeva’s previous mission drew heavy criticism from women’s rights activists and human rights defenders, who accused her of whitewashing the Taliban.
UNAMA hopes that with Fatima’s linguistic fluency and extensive diplomatic experience, it will be able to play a more effective role in supporting human rights, especially women’s rights in Afghanistan. However, people and experts fear that the Taliban’s restrictions will hinder the mission’s effective implementation.
