At a conference it hosts today, the United Nations will call for $600 million (DW) to fund humanitarian programs in Afghanistan through December. Around two-thirds of health facilities in the country are part of a World Bank–administered project from which donors paused funding (NYT) after the Taliban’s takeover last month. 

While many governments have yet to determine the terms of their engagement with the new Taliban administration, UN refugee chief Filippo Grandi arrived in Kabul today (EFE) to meet with officials and assess the needs of displaced Afghans. Ahead of today’s donor conference, Germany’s development minister called for a $12 billion UN fund (Bloomberg) to focus on global crisis prevention.​

Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s government and the Pakatan Harapan opposition coalition signed the agreement after months of political instability (Straits Times). It stipulates that Malaysia will not hold a general election until August 2022.
 
North Korea: State media said North Korea fired a new type of long-range cruise missile (Yonhap) over the weekend, apparently Pyongyang’s first testing activity in months. South Korea’s military said it is analyzing the results (AP).

Afghan women will be allowed to attend (WaPo) university and postgraduate education in Islamic attire and gender-segregated settings, the Taliban’s education minister said. The Taliban will also conduct a curriculum review.
 
For Foreign Affairs, Vanda Felbab-Brown writes that the United States should push for women’s rights in Afghanistan.

Tehran’s agreement to allow nuclear-site inspection cameras to be serviced (NYT) by the United Nations’ nuclear monitor, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has been considered a minimal condition for the resumption of nuclear talks.
 
This Backgrounder explains the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.
 
Iran: Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi became the first foreign leader to travel to Iran to meet (Reuters) the country’s new, hard-line president, Ebrahim Raisi. Iraq has aimed to mediate between Iran and its Gulf rivals in recent months.
 
CFR’s Steven A. Cook writes that Iraq is the Middle East’s new power broker.

Near Niger’s borders with Burkina Faso and Mali, armed groups’ recruitment and killing of children (AFP) in the first half of this year exceeded the number of such incidents recorded in all of 2020, an Amnesty International report found.
 
Chad: Hundreds of people demonstrated against the country’s ruling military junta (AFP) on Saturday. In April, Mahamat Idriss Deby seized power after his father, the former president, was killed on the battlefield.
 
CFR’s John Campbell and Nolan Quinn look at the decline of democracy in sub-Saharan Africa amid the pandemic.

Norwegians are voting in parliamentary elections that are expected to unseat the country’s conservative majority (FT) for the first time in eight years. The race has been dominated by the climate crisis.
 
France: Socialist Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo and far-right National Rally party leader Marine Le Pen announced their candidacies (AP) for the 2022 French presidential race. Only 8 percent of voters currently support Hidalgo (Politico), while 23 percent back Le Pen.

In primaries for upcoming legislative elections, Argentina’s ruling coalition lost most districts (Bloomberg), including Buenos Aires Province, to the opposition. The primaries are believed to herald the results of November midterms.
 
Brazil: Demonstrators in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro yesterday called for President Jair Bolsonaro’s ouster, though the protests were smaller than pro-Bolsonaro rallies (AP) held earlier in the week.

The U.S. Senate is due to take up deliberations on a $3.5 trillion budget bill after it reconvenes today. All Democratic senators will have to support the bill for it to pass, but West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin said yesterday that he was opposed (AP) to its size.