Qatar-Afghanistan Joint Labour Committee meeting held in Doha

A Qatar-Afghanistan Joint Labour Committee meeting was held in the Qatari capital of Doha on Wednesday, where the two sides discussed various issues including developments in the labor sector, local media reported.

Qatar’s Assistant Undersecretary of the Ministry of Labour Sheikha of Qatar Najwa bint Abdulrahman al-Thani and Head of Labour Deployment Department at the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs of Afghanistan, Mohammad Ameen Anees, co-chaired the meeting, Gulf Times newspaper reported.

The committee discussed the latest developments in the labour sector between the two countries, alongside other relevant matters outlined in the agenda, according to the newspaper.

This comes after the Islamic Emirate Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs held a meeting last week to discuss plans around the deployment of Afghan workers to foreign countries.

The meeting, chaired by Minister Abdul Manan Omari, was attended by senior IEA officials, including Amir Khan Muttaqi, the foreign minister.

According to a statement issued by the ministry on Saturday, the discussion focused on facilitating the process of sending Afghan workers abroad and creating better conditions for laborers within Afghanistan.

Sending Afghan workers to Qatar and other Gulf nations was a pledge of the previous government but was never implemented.

The IEA now seeks to revive and expand these plans amid a worsening unemployment crisis.

The meeting was co-chaired by Sheikha Najwa bint Abdulrahman Al Thani, Qatar’s Deputy Minister of Labor, and Mohammad Amin Anis, head of labor deployment at the Taliban-led Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs.

Taliban have previously reported holding discussions with Qatari officials about facilitating the migration of Afghan workers to Qatar. In Kabul, the Taliban’s Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs recently convened a meeting to address the “legal facilitation” of Afghan labor migration abroad, reportedly at the direction of Taliban leader Haibatullah Akhundzada.

The Kabul meeting was chaired by Abdulmanan Omari, the Taliban’s Minister of Labor and Social Affairs, and attended by senior officials, including Amir Khan Muttaqi, the Taliban’s foreign minister, Mohammad Nabi Omari, the deputy interior minister, and Abdul Qahar Idris, head of the Taliban’s statistics and information authority.

Despite such efforts, many Afghan citizens say job opportunities have significantly diminished since the Taliban’s return to power. Rising poverty and food insecurity have become pressing issues, with many families struggling to afford even one meal a day.

“Under the Taliban’s rule, hunger and poverty have expanded to unprecedented levels,” said one Kabul resident. Others shared similar concerns, emphasizing the growing pressures of unemployment and economic instability on daily life.

With Thanks and Reference to:https://amu.tv/151154/ and https://www.ariananews.af/qatar-afghanistan-joint-labour-committee-meeting-held-in-doha/