Qatar will now represent US interests in Afghanistan after the closure of the US embassy in Kabul and the seizure of power by the Taliban in August, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken announced today.
Welcoming his Qatari counterpart to Washington, the US Secretary of State signed an agreement to establish a US-based service inside the Qatari embassy in the Afghan capital.
The United States is “grateful” for Qatar’s “leadership” and “support” for Afghanistan, he said, in the presence of Qatari Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani.
Qatar, which hosts a large US military base, has played a crucial role in ending US intervention in Afghanistan, both diplomatically and logistically, in evacuation operations.
About half of the 124,000 displaced foreign nationals and Afghans threatened with Taliban retaliation have crossed into Qatar.
US consular operations in Afghanistan have been managed in Qatar since the Islamist movement came to power.
U.S. envoy to Afghanistan Tom West said Monday that the reopening of the U.S. embassy in Kabul was not being considered.
The United States, like the rest of the international community, does not recognize the government that the Islamists have formed since taking power in Afghanistan in mid-August, after the complete withdrawal of US forces that have been fighting them for 20 years.
U.S. demands, before considering any diplomatic action against the Taliban, include respect for human rights, especially women, the fight against “terrorist groups” and the possibility for Americans and Afghans who have worked with the US militarily and they are afraid of retaliation, to leave the country unhindered.
The Qatari foreign minister also called for an end to the normalization of relations between additional countries and Syria led by Bashar al-Assad, following a visit by a UAE minister to Damascus on Tuesday.
“We hope that the countries will be discouraged from further involvement with the Syrian regime,” the Qatari foreign minister told a joint news conference with Blinken, who in the meantime recalled US concern about the regime’s efforts to restore order.
“Qatar’s position will remain the same: we have not seen any serious action taken by the Assad regime to repair the damage it has done to its country and its people,” said Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani.
“Until he takes serious action, changing our position is not an option,” he added.
The states, however, have the “sovereign right” to make their own decisions about Syria, he acknowledged.
The United Arab Emirates and Qatar are two close allies of the United States, despite the recent diplomatic dispute between the two Gulf countries.
SOURCE: AMPE
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Source From: Capital
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