US top diplomat Blinken vists Qatar in wake of Taliban takeover

Secretary of State Blinken says ‘no country has done more than Qatar’ during the US military withdrawal and civilian exodus from Afghanistan.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin have met with Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and other top Qatari officials in Doha for talks on Afghanistan – shortly after the Taliban claimed to have taken full control of the country. Blinken and Austin are the most senior US officials to visit the Gulf since the Taliban’s lightning seizure of Afghanistan in August. Qatar, which hosts a major US airbase, has been the gateway for 58,000 people airlifted out of Afghanistan, nearly half the total number evacuated by US-led forces after the Taliban’s takeover, Blinken said on Tuesday.