On Qatar visit amid Taliban takeover, US Secy Blinken meets Deputy PM; lauds ties

Days after the United States ended its evacuation operation in Afghanistan, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and US State Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin on Tuesday, September 7, met Deputy Prime Minister of Qatar Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani and Qatar Minister of state for defence Khalid bin Mohammad Al Attiyah. Blinken thanked the leadership of Qatar for their efforts in facilitating the safe passage of evacuees from Afghanistan. Blinken said that more than 58,000 people have transited through Doha.

Blinken meets Deputy PM of Qatar

The leaders discussed Afghanistan and their efforts to promote regional security. Blinken in the joint press conference expressed gratitude to the Qatari people. US Secretary of State praised the extraordinary efforts of Qatar leadership in facilitating the evacuation of people from the war-ravaged nation. Blinken said that more than 58,000 people which included Americans, Afghans, citizens of allies and partner nations have transited through Doha. 

Furthermore, he noted that Qatar has time and again been the partner to the US. Blinken said that for years, Qatar has facilitated diplomacy between the Taliban and the Afghan Government in order to bring the conflict to a peaceful resolution. In addition, Blinken praised the diplomacy of Qatar and Turkey in their efforts to "help the airport in Kabul up and running again". Blinken further said that the "countries will continue to closely coordinate, as we have for the past several weeks, to keep the relocation effort moving forward as smoothly and as swiftly as possible".  

"Many countries have stepped up to help the evacuation and relocation efforts in Afghanistan, but no country has done more than Qatar", Blinken said in the joint press conference.   
 
"The strongest relationship that we have and that we and Qatar have built through this evacuation and relocation effort I know is going to pay continued dividends across these and so many other key areas in the months and years ahead.  What Qatar has done here for Americans, for Afghans, for citizens of many other countries will be remembered for a long, long time", Blinken added.

Speaking at the joint press conference, Foreign Minister Al Thani said that they discussed developments on the humanitarian level and the technical level. They discussed the evacuation of foreign nationals and Afghanis from Kabul. The leaders emphasised the importance of "keeping humanitarian corridors open and the freedom of movement from Afghanistan to be secured". They also urged the Taliban to work with them to "expedite this process".  

Blinken and Austin also visited Al Udeid Base, which was the largest Afghanistan-related evacuation site across the world. They also expressed gratitude to diplomats, troops, interagency partners, and the government of Qatar for receiving about half of all individuals evacuated from Afghanistan in Doha. US State Secretary Antony Blinken visited a housing complex where Qatar hosted hundreds of evacuees. Blinken expressed gratitude to Assistant Foreign Minister of Qatar Lolwah Al-Khater for her leadership. He also met several remarkable women & girls of the Afghan Robotics Team. 

IMAGE: SecBlinken/Twitter