The ruling emir of Qatar, whose nation has played a pivotal role in Afghanistan in the wake of the US withdrawal, urged world leaders gathered at the United Nations against turning their backs on the country's Taliban rulers.
Speaking from the podium of the UN General Assembly Tuesday, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani stressed the necessity of continuing dialogue with Taliban because boycott only leads to polarisation and reactions, whereas dialogue could bring in positive results.
Doha has hosted diplomats from across the globe, as they engaged with the Taliban at various levels—bilaterally or in groups. Taliban set up its foreign office here in 2013, and the city has played an important role in shaping the once proscribed terror outfit into a reality that just might get legitimised. Doha’s early negotiating success was facilitating the swap of a US soldier in Taliban custody since 2009, in return for five Taliban men in Guantanamo Bay prison. The exchange happened in Doha in 2014.
Doha provided that neutral ground, which was comfortable to both the US (it has its largest air base in the Middle East, Al Udeid, also the forward base of its Central Command, in Qatar) and the Taliban, which preferred this country over options like Saudi Arabia and Turkey when it wanted to set up a diplomatic office. Qatar had not recognised the Taliban government from 1996 to 2001, only Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Pakistan had. Yet, the Taliban preferred Qatar for its outreach.
Taliban leaders had been moving into Doha since 2011. It was to Qatar that Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar headed when he was released from a Pakistani jail in 2018, a move that paved the way for the intra-Afghan peace talks. Over the last couple of years, as the talks began taking some shape, Doha’s eminence rose.
The Doha Agreement of 2020 by which the US agreed to a full withdrawal from Afghanistan is the document which has shaped the present scenario in Afghanistan. Qatar continues to remain important to the Afghan story. It facilitated evacuations of foreigners and Afghans, and was among the first to rush in with relief material for Afghans. It helped reopen Kabul airport, along with Turkey and the UAE, and got domestic flights operational. Many countries have shifted their Kabul embassies—at least temporarily—to Doha, while Afghanistan remains in a flux.
His warning was directed at the many heads of state worried about engaging with the Taliban and recognising their takeover of Afghanistan.
The Taliban say they want international recognition. The group challenged the credentials of Afghanistan's former UN ambassador and are asking to speak at the UN General Assembly's high-level meeting of world leaders. They say it is the responsibility of the United Nations to recognise their government and for other countries to have diplomatic relations with them.
-Inputs from Rekha Dixit
