Announcement on CoST Afghanistan

The CoST board has revoked Afghanistan’s membership of CoST. There has been no active programme in the country since the Taliban seized power in August 2021. Since then, open government campaigners in the country have been interacting with the de facto authority in attempt to restore a level of public accountability in what are obviously very challenging circumstances. CoST has been liaising with those campaigners and monitoring the situation, to assess if it might be possible at some point for us to support their efforts. It is now clear that there is no realistic of us doing that. The CoST board has therefore taken the decision to revoke membership. We place on record our gratitude to the many individuals and organisations who contributed to CoST Afghanistan. We pledge solidarity with the Afghan people and support their aspirations for a better future.