KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – The United Nations convened the third session of the Doha Process working group on Afghanistan’s private sector in Kabul on Monday, gathering representatives from UN agencies, member states, international organizations, the Taliban, and experts.
In a statement, the UN mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said the meeting was held both in person and online and focused on strengthening job creation and entrepreneurship, including women’s participation in the private sector. Discussions also covered market integration, access to finance, and the development of private banking and financial infrastructure.
In a separate statement, the Taliban Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the session was held in two parts, addressing economic growth and inclusion, and coordination and transparency. The ministry added that participants exchanged views on existing challenges, shared proposals for possible solutions, and emphasized the need for greater coordination among stakeholders.
The meeting followed the fourth session of the Doha Process working group on counter-narcotics, held in Kabul last week. UNAMA said that discussions at that session focused on supporting alternative livelihoods for Afghans who previously depended on poppy cultivation and the illicit opium trade. Other topics included drug-use prevention and treatment, and law enforcement efforts to counter narcotics production and trafficking.
The working groups were created after the third Meeting of Special Envoys in Doha in mid-2024, following recommendations from an Independent Assessment endorsed by the UN Security Council for more coherent, coordinated, and structured international engagement with the Taliban.
According to UNAMA, the working groups have since helped improve information sharing among stakeholders, facilitated exchanges among technical experts and contributed to the mobilization of additional resources aimed at providing more effective and sustainable support to the Afghan population.
The latest sessions follow a visit to Kabul by Rosemary DiCarlo, UN Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, who met senior Taliban officials, including Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi and Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani, to advance the Doha process.
