Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s team will reconstitute the diplomatic mission to aid Americans and at-risk Afghan nationals from afar and manage “a range of functions” once conducted out of the now-shuttered embassy in Kabul from offices in Qatar.
“The Doha office will conduct functions that are quite similar to what our now suspended operations in Kabul was doing — providing reporting on security, political, and economic developments in Afghanistan,” State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters.
That office amounts to a sort of embassy-in-exile, as the Taliban have yet to form a government. U.S. officials maintain they will not make any decisions on diplomatic recognition of the militants before evaluating the Taliban’s policies, especially their treatment of U.S. citizens. Qatar’s status as the host of U.S. Central Command, the new diplomatic office, and whatever is left of the intra-Afghan peace process — the State Department’s representative for those talks remains in office — makes Doha a key multi-mission hub for U.S. officials.
“There will still be the need for broader [engagement] on Afghanistan,” Price said. “And that broader engagement will include [talks] with allies and partners, with other key nations, with multilateral organizations. There are any number of challenges we’re confronting where we have an embassy, we have a chief of mission, and then we have a special representative.”
BLINKEN OUTLINES PATH TO LEGITIMACY FOR TALIBAN
State Department special representative Zalmay Khalilzad, who negotiated the U.S.-Taliban deal for the withdrawal this summer, suggested Monday that Afghanistan now faces “a moment of decision and opportunity” following the absence of American troops.
2/5 With the departure of our military & those of the many partners who stood w/ us, Afghans face a moment of decision & opportunity. Their country’s future is in their hands. They will choose their path in full sovereignty. This is the chance to bring their war to an end as well
— U.S. Special Representative Zalmay Khalilzad (@US4AfghanPeace) August 30, 2021
“They will choose their path in full sovereignty. This is the chance to bring their war to an end as well,” Khalilzad wrote in a Twitter thread. “The Taliban now face a test. Can they lead their country to a safe & prosperous future where all their citizens, men & women, have the chance to reach their potential? Can Afghanistan present the beauty & power of its diverse cultures, histories, & traditions to the world?”
Khalilzad signed the famous U.S.-Taliban peace deal in Doha last year, emphasizing that “there is no obligation for the United States to withdraw troops if the Afghan parties are unable to reach agreement or if the Taliban show bad faith” in the expected negotiations with the U.S.-backed government.
The intra-Afghan talks contemplated by the U.S.-Taliban deal floundered, and the Taliban attacked the Afghan government forces. The military victory has left uncertainty about which Taliban officials will rule, what they will do, and whether they even have the control over their forces needed to honor any new promises made in Doha.
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“China and other countries that have shown an interest in engaging the Taliban cannot be certain about whether the Taliban group that they are in touch with can deliver what has been promised,” Afghanistan analyst Nishank Motwani told the South China Morning Post.
In the meantime, the most urgent task before the Doha office is the effort to secure “safe passage and relocation” for U.S. citizens left in Afghanistan when the evacuation effort ended Monday.
“We will continue to assist U.S. citizens and their families in Afghanistan from Doha, Qatar,” a State Department spokesperson told the Washington Examiner. “We will also continue our efforts to help [Lawful] Permanent Residents, immigrant visa applicants, and the many Afghans who have stood with us over the years, who are seeking to leave Afghanistan … We will use every diplomatic, economic, political, and assistance tool at our disposal to uphold the basic rights of all Afghans; support continued humanitarian access to the country; and ensure the Taliban honors its commitments.”
