Taliban: After the U.S. withdrawal, Qatar became a major player in Afghanistan

Now this small Gulf Arab country is being asked to help shape Afghanistan’s next step because of its relationship with Washington and Afghanistan Taliban, Who is in charge of Kabul.

Qatar will become one of the world’s heavyweights on Monday, when U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Brinken will host a virtual meeting to discuss coordination methods in the coming days as the United States completes its withdrawal from Afghanistan after the Taliban takes over the country.The conference will also include Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, Turkey, the European Union and NATO.

According to reports, the Taliban also asked Qatar to provide civilian technical assistance at Kabul International Airport after the U.S. military withdrawal is completed on Tuesday. The Qatari authorities have not yet commented on these reports.

At the same time, the international A sort of Various agencies are asking Qatar for help and support to provide assistance to Afghanistan.

Qatar’s role is somewhat unexpected. The country borders Saudi Arabia and shares a huge underwater gas field with Iran in the Persian Gulf, which should have become a transit point for thousands of people airlifted from Afghanistan within a few months.

After the Taliban took over Kabul unexpectedly and quickly on August 15, the United States hoped that Qatar would help with the task of evacuating tens of thousands of people in the chaotic and hasty airlift.

In the end, nearly 40% of the evacuees moved out through Qatar, winning praise from the Washington leadership. International media also rely on Qatar to evacuate their own employees.

The United States said on Saturday that 113,500 people have been evacuated from Afghanistan since August 14. Qatar stated that more than 43,000 people transited through Afghanistan.

Qatar’s role in the evacuation reflects its status as the host of the largest US military base in the Middle East, but it also reflects its decision to host the Taliban political leaders in exile many years ago, giving it a certain degree of influence on militant groups. Qatar also hosted peace talks between the United States and the Taliban.

Qatar’s Assistant Foreign Minister Lolwa al-Khater acknowledged Qatar’s political results in the past few weeks, but rejected any suggestion that Qatar’s efforts are purely strategic.

“If someone thinks this is just for political gain, believe me, there are some ways to do public relations that are much easier than letting our people take risks on the ground. It is much easier than we can sleep through the night in the past two weeks, and it’s not that complicated. It’s not about taking time to take care of every child and every pregnant woman,” she told the Associated Press.

For some of the most sensitive rescue operations in Afghanistan, Qatar carried out the operation with only a few hundred soldiers and its own military aircraft.

Qatar evacuated a girls’ boarding school, an all-girl robotics team, and journalists working for international media. The ambassador of Qatar accompanied the bus convoy through the Taliban checkpoint in Kabul and through multiple Western military checkpoints at the airport, where large crowds gathered eagerly to escape.

Al-Khater said that Qatar has secured a total of about 3,000 people access to the airport and has airlifted up to 1,500 people after receiving requests from international organizations and reviewing their names.

Hartle said that Qatar has a unique position because it has the ability to talk to local parties and is willing to escort people through Kabul, which is controlled by the Taliban.

“What many people don’t realize is that this trip is not a call to the Taliban,” she said.

“The United States, the United Kingdom, NATO, and Turkey have checkpoints… We have to deal with all these variables and factors.” The Taliban has promised to amnesty all those who remain in Afghanistan. Despite this, many people who are eager to get out-including civil society activists, people who have worked for the Western military, and women who are afraid of losing their hard-won rights-say they don’t trust militants.

In addition, other armed groups pose a growing threat.

Last week, ISIS suicide bombers launched an attack outside the Kabul airport, killing more than 180 people.

The U.S.-led evacuation process was damaged by misjudgment and chaos and spread to the Udeid base in Qatar.

Al-Udeid’s hangar was so crowded that the United States suspended flights from Kabul for several hours during the peak evacuation period on August 20. Nearby countries, such as Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, accepted thousands of evacuees to ease the pressure on Kabul. American base.

In al-Udeid, Afghan families evacuated by the United States waited for hours in a poorly ventilated, damp, and insufficiently cooled hangar in the middle of the desert.

A video released by the “Washington Post” showed that in a hangar with only one toilet, there were hundreds of evacuees and people sleeping on the ground.

Qatar built an emergency field hospital, additional shelters and portable toilets to help fill the gap. In addition to the things distributed by the U.S. military, the Qatar military distributes 50,000 meals a day, and more food comes from local charities.

Qatar Airways It also provided 10 aircraft to transport evacuees from its capital, Doha, to other countries.

Approximately 20,000 evacuees remain in Qatar, some are expected to leave within a few weeks, while others are leaving in a few months, waiting to be resettled elsewhere. Since arriving in Qatar, seven Afghan women have delivered babies.

Qatar only absorbed a handful of evacuees, including a group of female students who will receive scholarships to continue their education in Doha.

Qatar is also hosting some evacuees in a furnished apartment facility to be built for the FIFA World Cup in Doha next year.

This energy-rich country is a small country with more than 300,000 citizens, and the number of foreign workers holding temporary visas far exceeds the local population.

this White house President Biden personally expressed his gratitude to Qatar’s 41-year-old Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani over the phone, and pointed out that without Qatar’s support, it would be impossible to achieve air transport led by the United States. Facilitate the transfer of thousands of people.

This is an aggressive propaganda that the millions of dollars spent on lobbying and public relations in the Gulf Arab states are almost impossible to guarantee.