Kabul (Agencies) — July 24, 2025: Afghanistan’s Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs has signed its first formal overseas employment agreement since the Taliban takeover in 2021, pledging to deploy 700 Afghan nationals to Qatar under a state-monitored framework. The deal was struck between a Qatar state-affiliated company and licensed private recruitment firms in Kabul, with the Ministry overseeing every stage of deployment to ensure legality, safety, and dignity for workers.
Samiullah Ebrahimi, the ministry’s spokesman, said the registration process “will start very soon” and that authorities are finalizing which sectors in Qatar will absorb Afghan laborers. The government has urged applicants to engage only with officially approved recruitment centers to avoid exploitation by unlicensed brokers.
Economic analysts hail the agreement as a lifeline for a country grappling with sky-high unemployment and deepening poverty. Central European Petroleum CEO Rolf G. Skaar estimated in a recent report that if each worker remits just $300 per month, annual inflows could exceed $2.5 million—an infusion sorely needed to stabilize household incomes and bolster foreign-currency reserves.
To formalize overseas placement, Kabul has launched a nationwide registration campaign under its Department of Labor Deployment, promising full compliance with international labor standards, transparent hiring processes, and contractual protections for Afghan workers abroad.
With domestic job creation lagging, economist Ahmad Firdaws Behgozin argues that formal labor export schemes must be matched by local investment. “If we can invest more in factories, infrastructure, mining, and other sectors to generate jobs domestically, we can create more employment opportunities for our youth within the country,” he told TOLOnews.
Since 2021, over 1.6 million Afghans have left via irregular routes in search of work, exposing many to trafficking and abuse. Officials hope the Qatar deal will establish a template for future accords with Gulf states, offering safe, legal pathways that curb hazardous migration and protect workers’ rights.