On February 18, 2025, various factions of the anti-Taliban resistance wrapped up the fifth Vienna Process Conference for a Democratic Afghanistan, calling for international assistance in forming a transitional government. Former leaders of the Afghan government, civil society representatives, and anti-Taliban resistance leaders participated in the event hosted by the Austrian Institute for International Affairs.
“The fifth round of the Vienna Process brought together over 90 participants, making it the largest gathering on Afghanistan since 2021,” Ali Nazary, head of foreign relations for the National Resistance Front, an alliance of former Northern Alliance members and additional anti-Taliban fighters, told FDD’s Long War Journal.
The conference emphasized the adoption of the Vienna Process Roadmap, which seeks to foster democracy and restore the rule of law in Afghanistan. This roadmap, developed through extensive discussions during the first four conferences, aims to end political violence, enhance international relations with the Afghan diaspora, promote the rights of marginalized Afghans, and establish a framework for a stronger economy.
“We call on the international community to support Afghanistan’s fight for democracy and justice,” said Nazary.
In a statement after the event, leaders condemned the Taliban’s regime as “illegitimate.” Furthermore, they criticized the group for implementing a gender apartheid regime, endorsing terrorism, and hurting millions of displaced Afghans.
“The Taliban do not represent the true rulers of Afghanistan,” General Yasin Zia, leader of the Afghanistan Freedom Front and former deputy defense minister of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, told Long War Journal. “The people of Afghanistan would never select the Taliban. They are terrorists, not allies in counterterrorism.”
Additionally, the conference established a National Commission of 19 members representing all groups participating in the process. The commission’s tasks will include finalizing governing documents, developing a shared vision, formulating future anti-Taliban strategies, and designing a new governing structure for Afghanistan.
“We call on the Taliban to end their gender apartheid regime,” Lieutenant General Haibitullah Alizai, the last chief of staff of the Afghan National Army, told LWJ.
The Taliban and its various allies maintain a firm hold on Afghanistan. However, anti-Taliban resistance groups, including the National Resistance Front and the Afghanistan Freedom Front, two of the leading organizations attending the conference, have undertaken kinetic operations in the country. They have conducted attacks against static outposts and Kabul International Airport, where the Taliban stores its air force. Notably absent from the conference was Lieutenant General Sami Sadat’s Afghanistan United Front.
“The Vienna Conference was a great opportunity to strengthen unity among opposition parties and build a unified umbrella that could be recognized as the primary anti-Taliban coalition,” General Ajmal Omar Shinwari, a former spokesperson for the Afghan military, told LWJ.
“All political and diplomatic gatherings that are focused on uniting the people of Afghanistan around human rights and democratic principles are a good idea,” Major (Ret) Jason Howk, Director of Global Friends of Afghanistan, a non-profit working to achieve diplomatic victories in Afghanistan, told LWJ.
