US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with Qatari Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani about Afghanistan on Sunday, the U.S. State Department said.
The readout of the call released by the State Department did not given any details, except that Blinken acknowledged Qatar’s assistance to transit U.S. citizens and Afghans at risk.
Blinken, accompanied by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, is the most senior US official to visit the region since the Taliban’s lightning takeover of Afghanistan on August 15.
Blinken’s team had praised Doha’s “indispensable support in facilitating the transit of US citizens, embassy Kabul personnel, at-risk Afghans, and other evacuees from Afghanistan through Qatar”.
Qatar, which hosts a major US airbase, has been the gateway for 55,000 people airlifted out of Afghanistan, nearly half the total number evacuated by US-led forces after the Taliban’s lightning takeover.
Before his arrival, Blinken said that in Qatar he would “express our deep gratitude for all that they’re doing to support the evacuation effort” and meet rescued Afghans.
Qatar had invited the Taliban to open a political office in Doha in 2013, subsequently hosting talks between Washington and the Taliban that concluded in 2020 with a troop withdrawal agreement. It was followed by direct negotiations between the former insurgents and Afghan government.
(With inputs from AFP)
Read all the Latest News , Breaking News and IPL 2022 Live Updates here.
Comments
0 comment