Blinken to intensify Afghanistan diplomacy in Qatar, Germany

WASHINGTON, 07 September 2021, (TON): 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 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.

Neither Blinken nor Austin are expected to meet with members of the Taliban, U.S. officials said.

The United States’ two decades-long invasion in Afghanistan culminated with a hastily organized airlift that left thousands of U.S.-allied Afghans behind and was punctuated by a suicide bombing outside Kabul’s airport that killed 13 U.S. troops and scores of Afghans. Washington completed the withdrawal on Aug. 31.