Doha Officials have been encouraging the international community to avoid isolating Kabul.

Qatar has reportedly set its eyes on investing in Afghanistan’s solar power generation, Acting Afghan Minister of Water and Power Mullah Abdul Latif Mansoor said in a tweet on Sunday.
Mansoor mentioned he had met with the Chairman of Qatar’s Solar Energy company Salem Abbasi who said that a meeting comprising of administrative and technical delegations from relevant ministries should take place to further discuss those moves.

Afghanistan’s has been struggling with an electricity shortage, with up to MW of power needed on an annual basis. The country’s domestic power sources, including fossil fuels, hydropower plants and solar panels, meet around just 22% of the country’s needs.

Since the Taliban took over Kabul on 15 August, the country has struggled to repay electricity bills it owed to other nations. Afghanistan gets 78% of its power supply from foreign countries, paying between $20 to $25 million monthly to Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Iran.
In November, Afghanistan’s power company Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat (DABS) announced it will be importing around 100 MW of electricity from Iran.

The potential deal with Qatar would come as it continues to support Afghanistan amid a worsening economic and humanitarian crisis, all of which have been worsened by the latest developments following the Taliban takeover.
Earlier this month, Qatar’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani talked about the importance of separating the provision of humanitarian assistance from politics.
He said at the Rome MED Conference that it is unfair to punish the Afghan people because of the Taliban takeover.

With the State of Qatar being a world leader in innovation and investment, other countries may follow their lead and engage on investing in Afghanistan’s energy sector.