Qatar is an ‘impartial mediator’ amid Afghanistan evacuations: FM

Doha is stressing to the Taliban the importance of being an ‘engaging party as part of Afghan society’, official says.

Qatar is working as an “impartial mediator” in dealings with the Taliban while aiding ongoing evacuations of foreign nationals and vulnerable Afghans from the country, Qatar’s foreign minister said. Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani said the Gulf state – which hosted talks between the US and Taliban that culminated in the 2020 agreement to withdraw US and foreign troops as well as hold subsequent intra-Afghan peace talks – is using its unique position to stress to the Taliban the “importance of acting and behaving as an engaging party over there as part of the Afghan society”. That comes after the Taliban’s lightning-fast takeover of Afghanistan and as foreign troops prepared to withdraw by the end of August. The Taliban’s swift rise, which surprised Western intelligence communities, left foreign governments scrambling to respond to the new reality on the ground, and foreign nationals and thousands of Afghan citizens rushing to flee the country.