After Messy Pullout, Antony Blinken To Intensify Afghanistan Diplomacy

In a trip to Qatar and Germany, Antony Blinken will be overlapping with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin who went for a wider Gulf visit covering Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait

A week after declaring America's "new chapter" of engagement with Afghanistan, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will aim to form a united front with allies this week on how to tackle the Taliban and ensure continued support for U.S. bid to help evacuate Americans and at-risk Afghans who remained behind. In a trip to Qatar and Germany, Blinken will be overlapping with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin who is also departing on Sunday for a wider Gulf visit covering Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait. The visit by top two U.S. national security officials comes as the Biden administration still grapples with the fallout from what is widely seen as a messy U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, criticized by President Joe Biden's fellow Democrats, as well as Republicans. Dubbed as a "thank you" tour to the Gulf countries and Germany, who were instrumental in helping Washington evacuate thousands of people out of Kabul, Blinken will meet with senior Qatari officials in Doha and German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas at Ramstein air base, where he will also co-host a ministerial meeting on Afghanistan.