KABUL, Afghanistan — Khaama Press said that Afghanistan’s Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs has announced intentions to send 2,000 Afghan workers to Qatar. This will give people in Afghanistan who are struggling with high unemployment and a large number of returning refugees legal job options. This program is very important for Afghanistan, where officials hope it would “ease some of the burden on the domestic labor market.”
The Taliban-run ministry said on Wednesday, July 23, and posted on its official X account that “Qatar has allocated an additional 1,300 job opportunities for Afghan workers,” increasing the total to 2,000 laborers due to be deployed in the following phases. Khaama Press said that this is the start of a bigger plan to make it easier for Afghan workers to go overseas legally. The ministry also projected a significant increase in job openings in the future.
Kabul and Qatari officials have previously worked together to plan the staged deployment of workers. Khaama Press said that the government would shortly publish registration centers and application criteria for Afghan people who want to apply.
Afghanistan is currently going through a terrible humanitarian catastrophe, with widespread poverty, lack of food security, and the breakdown of basic governmental services. The situation has got worse since a lot of Afghan refugees have come back, mostly from Pakistan and Iran, where many of them had gone to find jobs and shelter. Thousands of people who have come back home and others who live there are having a hard time supporting their families because there aren’t many jobs available. Khaama Press said that the lack of regular labor programs has made many Afghans’ lives worse, which makes the country’s instability even worse.
The passport ranking shows that global mobility is getting smaller.
Afghanistan is looking for jobs outside of the country, but it still can’t move about much in the world. Khaama Press said that the Henley Passport Index for 2025 has classified Afghanistan’s passport as the weakest in the world. It only lets you travel to 26 countries without a visa, which shows how isolated the country is becoming on the world stage.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) gave Afghanistan the lowest score on the yearly index, putting it at 106th place in the globe. This means that Afghanistan has the most restricted passport in the world. According to Khaama Press, Afghanistan’s freedom to travel is getting worse. It dropped two ranks from 104th place in 2024. “This steady drop shows that the country’s global mobility is getting worse, making Afghan citizens more and more cut off from the rest of the world.”
In stark contrast, Singapore was at the top of the Henley Index in 2025. Its citizens could travel to 195 countries without a visa. Japan was next, with access to 193 countries. Finland, France, Germany, Italy, South Korea, and Spain all came in third position, enjoying visa-free access to 192 countries. Afghan passport holders can only travel to 26 countries without a visa. These include Sri Lanka, Somalia, Kenya, Cambodia, and Bangladesh. This shows how much harder it is for Afghan people to move around the world.
Khaama Press said that even though the Taliban is in charge of the country, Afghan passports still have the symbol of the old government on them. This, together with a lot of political instability and an economic collapse, has made migration patterns worse, even though it has grown harder for regular people to get a passport.
Khaama Press also said, “The steady decline in the power of Afghanistan’s passport reflects the country’s worsening diplomatic and economic situation.” This limited access to the world not only makes it hard for people to move about, but it also shows bigger problems with international isolation and lack of acknowledgment. Experts say that “unless Afghanistan deals with its main problems, such as governance issues, economic recovery, and efforts to gain international legitimacy, the passport is likely to stay at the bottom of global rankings for the foreseeable future.”