Austin and Blinken meet Qatar's emir with an eye on Afghanistan

The United States has completed the evacuation of its troops from Afghanistan within the timeframe promised by President Joe Biden. After 20 years of military presence in Afghanistan and following the Taliban coup d'état, the Americans are leaving the country in what has been an absolute diplomatic disaster. The evacuation of civilians led to chaos at Kabul airport, which, thanks to the help of many countries, was not entirely successful. One of them was Qatar, for which Antony Blinken and Lloyd Austin travelled to Doha on Monday to thank the emir.

Secretary of State Blinken and Defence Secretary Austin travelled to the Qatari capital in the last few hours to meet Qatar's emir, Tamim bin Hamad al-Zani. The purpose of the meeting was to thank Qatar for its help in evacuating US citizens. In addition, during the meeting they discussed "developments in the situation in Afghanistan", as well as "efforts to strengthen security and stability in Afghanistan" after the seizure of the capital in mid-August by extremist forces.

At a difficult time for the entire region, representatives of Joe Biden's administration were keen to highlight the "strong partnership between the two countries and Qatar's diplomatic role in helping to preserve regional and international security and peace". The US Department itself puts the number of evacuees from Afghanistan who have landed on Qatari soil at 55,000. Qatar is serving as a stopover before reaching their final destination on US soil, as are countries such as Germany and even countries in the Persian Gulf, such as Kuwait, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.

With respect to these countries, the US Secretaries of State and Defence plan to visit the various destinations in the coming days to thank them for their cooperation with American citizens. Antony Blinken will travel tomorrow, Wednesday 8 September, to the Ramstein area base in Germany, a further sign of the close relationship between the German country and Biden's people. For his part, Lloyd Austin will soon visit the Gulf states, which have also played a key role in the evacuation effort.

At the same time that the US is meeting with the emir, Qatari forces are working closely with Turkey to re-establish domestic and international flights at the Afghan capital's airport. According to Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, "Turkey is now working in and around the general terminal. I have seen them working myself," he was quoted as saying in a Turkish newspaper. It should not be forgotten that Recep Tayyip Erdogan's country is currently deploying special forces in neighbouring Pakistan as a precautionary measure in case a new intervention in Afghanistan becomes necessary.

Al Jazeera reported on Monday that the Taliban had invited Russia, China, Turkey, Qatar, Iran and Pakistan to a ceremony for the official announcement of the new Afghan government. Although the exact date of the ceremony is not yet known, Al Jazeera suggests that it will take place in the next few days and that the composition of the new government will be known by the end of the week. It remains to be seen whether the West will finally agree to negotiate with the Taliban or, on the contrary, will continue to reject any kind of dialogue, as it has done so far.