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QNA
Doha
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Defence Affairs HE Dr Khalid bin Mohammed Al Attiyah praised the strong relations between Qatar and the US and their development and growth.
The Deputy PM stressed that coordination between the two countries regarding Afghanistan is continuing, especially in the evacuation operations and joint coordination in providing technical assistance to Afghanistan, as well as coordinating the provision of humanitarian assistance.
This came during a joint press conference in Doha on Tuesday, in which Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs HE Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin participated.
During the conference, Sheikh Mohammed stressed the strong strategic partnership relations that have linked Qatar and the United States for decades, which are characterized by continuous development and growth.
Sheikh Mohammed said his meeting with the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Defense Affairs and American top diplomats discussed a number of issues of common interest and how to complete work and consult on them.
He pointed out that developments in the security and humanitarian situation in Afghanistan occupied the largest part of the discussion, especially the evacuations from Afghanistan, the importance of continuing to open humanitarian corridors and allowing freedom of movement and transit from Afghanistan, and urging the Taliban to work to facilitate these operations as soon as possible. The issue of Kabul Airport and its operations and the support provided by Qatar for the success of these efforts was also discussed.
“We discussed various issues, including the Palestinian issue, where we stressed the need for continued humanitarian support for the Palestinian brothers and the importance of working together to find a political settlement based on the two-state solution and the Arab Peace Initiative, which the State of Qatar always emphasizes in its positions,” Sheikh Mohammed said.
The FM thanked the US for the support it provides to achieve security and stability in the region, stressing the partnership of Qatar and the US in this path and the continued support and consolidation of this partnership further.
On the opening of Kabul airport, humanitarian aid and the difficulties refugees face in obtaining entry visas, Sheikh Mohammed said, “We have sent a technical team to provide the necessary technical assistance to repair the conditions of the airport and restart it, and we have addressed many problems to make the airport operational soon. But we have not yet reached an agreement regarding the management and operation of the airport, but we continue to provide humanitarian support, and we have a flight almost every day to deliver humanitarian aid or receive aid from other countries to ensure the continued opening of the humanitarian corridor, our task is focused on highlighting the foreigners who want Leave Afghanistan as soon as possible.”
The FM urged United Nations agencies and other governmental organisations to provide support and assistance to Afghanistan, noting that Qatar provided some flights for United Nations officials to reach understandings with the Taliban in order not to impede their operations there. He expressed the hope that the airport in the coming days would reach a level where it would be able to operate for the transportation of passengers and humanitarian aid.
In answering a question about the strength of the alliance between Qatar and the US, especially after the sudden withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan, the FM affirmed that the United States is the most important partner for Qatar, and the relationship and partnership with it has been going on for decades. “The United States is a strong partner in the security, economic and educational fields, and I do not think there is any similarity in what is happening in Afghanistan with how the United States views the region and its partnership in the region as a whole and in the Gulf in particular,” he added.
The FM continued, “From our perspective, there was a 20-year war and it has ended, and we hope that there will be better prospects for Afghanistan. As facilitators, we have to help and support the post-war efforts so that Afghanistan returns to an inclusive, participatory country in a participatory and inclusive government that will be the basis for the renaissance of the Afghan people. We share the same goals and will continue this partnership across the region and beyond to work together in this regard.”
With regard to how Qatar deals with the evacuees without documents, Sheikh Mohammed stated that Qatar has coordinated with the United States to receive the evacuees to make Qatar a transit point, noting that given the nature and timing of the evacuation process, there were a number of those who came to Qatar did not have identification documents, and Qatar has coordinated and cooperated with the United States of America with the necessary efforts to complete the process of evacuating them.
He said the number of people who were evacuated through Qatar amounted to about 58,000 people, explaining that there are approximately 4,000 people currently going through the evacuation process. He stressed that the entire process is carried out according to a prior agreement between Qatar and the United States of America.
Regarding his expectations about the readiness of Kabul airport, Sheikh Mohammed pointed out that what has been fixed so far enables the airport to receive private chartered flights, noting that humanitarian relief flights are being used as a test of the airport’s readiness.
A number of criteria have been identified that must be met, specifically with regard to the security aspect in order to use the airport for passenger flights, which needs an agreement with the Taliban and is under constant negotiation.
Regarding the opening of the airport to international and commercial flights, the FM expressed his belief that in light of the current situation of the airport, it will be able to receive such flights in a limited period, taking into account the need to modernise some equipment to be able to operate as an international airport. He stressed the issue of security measures.
“If we can put it into effect and reach an agreement on it with the Taliban, then it will be very easy to achieve these goals as soon as possible,” he said.
For his part, Anthony Blinken expressed his country’s thanks and great gratitude for the efforts made by Qatar in the process of evacuating American and Afghan citizens and citizens of friendly and partner countries who are at risk, for whom Qatar was their first stop. He stressed that the US, as well as those evacuees, will not forget Qatar in that process.
Blinken praised the response of Qatar to the evacuation efforts, noting that many countries expressed their desire to assist in the evacuations and transportation efforts from Afghanistan, “but no one did more than what Qatar did.”
“More than 58,000 people passed through Doha towards a new, more peaceful and stable life, and you welcomed them with sympathy and generosity, and when any problem emerged, Qatar cooperated with us hand in hand to deal with it, as well as providing medical support that contributed to saving lives, including field medical services and medical services at Al Wakra Hospital, which was designated for the evacuees.”
He continued, “You provided 10,000 meals three times a day to Al-Udeid camp. You also established the coordination cell in Al-Sailiya camp to contribute and help organise the efforts of all non-governmental organisations that send aid, with the provision of 20 flights via Qatar Airways to transport thousands of individuals to the United States and Germany, and you offered to do 20 more trips, and we thank your tremendous support that did not stop in very challenging circumstances, and this is a testimony to Qatar and its leadership.”
Blinken praised the Qatari diplomacy, noting the role of Qatar in ending the war and facilitating talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government through the efforts it has made over many years, noting that it is not a coincidence that the US transferred its diplomatic work from Afghanistan to Doha, expressing confidence that Qatar will continue to work side by side with the US.
“We appreciate the diplomacy of Qatar and its endeavor to maintain an open corridor from Afghanistan to the rest of the countries, and we value the efforts made by Qatar and Turkey to reopen Kabul airport,” he added.
On the progress of the evacuation efforts, the US Secretary of State confirmed the success of the evacuations, noting that thousands of American and Afghan citizens were successfully evacuated through special flights, stressing that efforts are continuing to arrange other flights and remove any obstacles to ensure that these flights are organised so that you can leave Afghanistan safely. At the same time, the lack of teams on the ground hinders the process of verifying the accuracy of passenger lists and securing flights, describing this matter as a challenge that requires a huge amount of diplomatic efforts to overcome.
Blinken described this operation as one of the most complex operations in recent memory, expressing his confidence that Qatar’s cooperation with the United States in this process will contribute to its success, noting that the friendly relations between the two countries are in their strongest form
He stressed that the evacuation and transport operations have further strengthened the relationship between the two countries, which will have a positive impact on the bilateral relations between the two countries in various fields in the coming months and years.
In this context, Blinken indicated that one of the challenges facing the evacuation efforts from Afghanistan is that there are a group of individuals who hold official travel documents, while others do not carry those documents, stressing that the Taliban pledged allowing those who wish to leave Afghanistan provided that they possess official travel documents, and given that these individuals are linked to each other, they face difficulty in leaving.
On the number of American citizens who are still in Afghanistan, he said, “We believe that at this time, the number of people with US citizenship in Afghanistan is in the range of 100, and although we have sent messages to citizens registered at the embassy encouraging and urging them to leave Afghanistan due to the security situation, with the start of the evictions that began in August In the past, there were 6,000 American citizens in Afghanistan, and almost all of them were transferred during the two weeks that we worked on the evacuation, but some did not make the decision to leave or were unable to take it, and we are in direct contact with them and we have a team dedicated to dealing with them and managing their cases to make sure that they can leave if they wish to do so.”
For his part, US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin expressed his thanks and gratitude for the efforts of Qatar and its support for the evacuation from Afghanistan of American citizens, allies and partners, and Afghan citizens at risk.
Austin described that operation as the largest operation in history, during which Qatar, through the Qatari Armed Forces and in cooperation with its partners, transported more than 124,000 people to safety, stressing that this achievement would not have been achieved without Qatar’s support and assistance, and that Qatar provided more than duty and contributed to saving thousands of lives.
The US Secretary of Defence indicated that cooperation between Qatar and the US is continuing on many levels, pointing out that there are common priorities between the two countries, and expressing his country’s gratitude for the State of Qatar’s continued hosting of US forces to ensure their presence in a strategic location “to support critical missions in Territory”.
He continued, “The relations of the United States of America are not limited to defence matters only, but go deeper than that, as we work with our regional partners towards several common goals with the aim of reducing conflicts, providing humanitarian assistance to civilians who need it most, and reducing tensions.”
“We believe that this is the right way to ensure regional security and stability, and we realise that Qatar stands with us in promoting security and peace. Qatar has provided humanitarian aid from Yemen to Gaza and has facilitated the Afghan peace negotiations,” he added.
On the success of the sudden exit of the US armed forces from Afghanistan or not, he said, “What happened in the post-withdrawal phase is something we will study carefully over the coming weeks and months and I will not try to describe this matter, but I am proud of the wonderful work what our brave men from the armed forces did to evacuate 124,000 people from Kabul airport in a very short period under difficult and dangerous conditions.”
He added that there is no perfect process, there are always lessons to be learned, “and what we always do in the US military is to do a post-event review process to see what we did and what could have been done better.”
Doha
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Defence Affairs HE Dr Khalid bin Mohammed Al Attiyah praised the strong relations between Qatar and the US and their development and growth.
The Deputy PM stressed that coordination between the two countries regarding Afghanistan is continuing, especially in the evacuation operations and joint coordination in providing technical assistance to Afghanistan, as well as coordinating the provision of humanitarian assistance.
This came during a joint press conference in Doha on Tuesday, in which Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs HE Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin participated.
During the conference, Sheikh Mohammed stressed the strong strategic partnership relations that have linked Qatar and the United States for decades, which are characterized by continuous development and growth.
Sheikh Mohammed said his meeting with the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Defense Affairs and American top diplomats discussed a number of issues of common interest and how to complete work and consult on them.
He pointed out that developments in the security and humanitarian situation in Afghanistan occupied the largest part of the discussion, especially the evacuations from Afghanistan, the importance of continuing to open humanitarian corridors and allowing freedom of movement and transit from Afghanistan, and urging the Taliban to work to facilitate these operations as soon as possible. The issue of Kabul Airport and its operations and the support provided by Qatar for the success of these efforts was also discussed.
“We discussed various issues, including the Palestinian issue, where we stressed the need for continued humanitarian support for the Palestinian brothers and the importance of working together to find a political settlement based on the two-state solution and the Arab Peace Initiative, which the State of Qatar always emphasizes in its positions,” Sheikh Mohammed said.
The FM thanked the US for the support it provides to achieve security and stability in the region, stressing the partnership of Qatar and the US in this path and the continued support and consolidation of this partnership further.
On the opening of Kabul airport, humanitarian aid and the difficulties refugees face in obtaining entry visas, Sheikh Mohammed said, “We have sent a technical team to provide the necessary technical assistance to repair the conditions of the airport and restart it, and we have addressed many problems to make the airport operational soon. But we have not yet reached an agreement regarding the management and operation of the airport, but we continue to provide humanitarian support, and we have a flight almost every day to deliver humanitarian aid or receive aid from other countries to ensure the continued opening of the humanitarian corridor, our task is focused on highlighting the foreigners who want Leave Afghanistan as soon as possible.”
The FM urged United Nations agencies and other governmental organisations to provide support and assistance to Afghanistan, noting that Qatar provided some flights for United Nations officials to reach understandings with the Taliban in order not to impede their operations there. He expressed the hope that the airport in the coming days would reach a level where it would be able to operate for the transportation of passengers and humanitarian aid.
In answering a question about the strength of the alliance between Qatar and the US, especially after the sudden withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan, the FM affirmed that the United States is the most important partner for Qatar, and the relationship and partnership with it has been going on for decades. “The United States is a strong partner in the security, economic and educational fields, and I do not think there is any similarity in what is happening in Afghanistan with how the United States views the region and its partnership in the region as a whole and in the Gulf in particular,” he added.
The FM continued, “From our perspective, there was a 20-year war and it has ended, and we hope that there will be better prospects for Afghanistan. As facilitators, we have to help and support the post-war efforts so that Afghanistan returns to an inclusive, participatory country in a participatory and inclusive government that will be the basis for the renaissance of the Afghan people. We share the same goals and will continue this partnership across the region and beyond to work together in this regard.”
With regard to how Qatar deals with the evacuees without documents, Sheikh Mohammed stated that Qatar has coordinated with the United States to receive the evacuees to make Qatar a transit point, noting that given the nature and timing of the evacuation process, there were a number of those who came to Qatar did not have identification documents, and Qatar has coordinated and cooperated with the United States of America with the necessary efforts to complete the process of evacuating them.
He said the number of people who were evacuated through Qatar amounted to about 58,000 people, explaining that there are approximately 4,000 people currently going through the evacuation process. He stressed that the entire process is carried out according to a prior agreement between Qatar and the United States of America.
Regarding his expectations about the readiness of Kabul airport, Sheikh Mohammed pointed out that what has been fixed so far enables the airport to receive private chartered flights, noting that humanitarian relief flights are being used as a test of the airport’s readiness.
A number of criteria have been identified that must be met, specifically with regard to the security aspect in order to use the airport for passenger flights, which needs an agreement with the Taliban and is under constant negotiation.
Regarding the opening of the airport to international and commercial flights, the FM expressed his belief that in light of the current situation of the airport, it will be able to receive such flights in a limited period, taking into account the need to modernise some equipment to be able to operate as an international airport. He stressed the issue of security measures.
“If we can put it into effect and reach an agreement on it with the Taliban, then it will be very easy to achieve these goals as soon as possible,” he said.
For his part, Anthony Blinken expressed his country’s thanks and great gratitude for the efforts made by Qatar in the process of evacuating American and Afghan citizens and citizens of friendly and partner countries who are at risk, for whom Qatar was their first stop. He stressed that the US, as well as those evacuees, will not forget Qatar in that process.
Blinken praised the response of Qatar to the evacuation efforts, noting that many countries expressed their desire to assist in the evacuations and transportation efforts from Afghanistan, “but no one did more than what Qatar did.”
“More than 58,000 people passed through Doha towards a new, more peaceful and stable life, and you welcomed them with sympathy and generosity, and when any problem emerged, Qatar cooperated with us hand in hand to deal with it, as well as providing medical support that contributed to saving lives, including field medical services and medical services at Al Wakra Hospital, which was designated for the evacuees.”
He continued, “You provided 10,000 meals three times a day to Al-Udeid camp. You also established the coordination cell in Al-Sailiya camp to contribute and help organise the efforts of all non-governmental organisations that send aid, with the provision of 20 flights via Qatar Airways to transport thousands of individuals to the United States and Germany, and you offered to do 20 more trips, and we thank your tremendous support that did not stop in very challenging circumstances, and this is a testimony to Qatar and its leadership.”
Blinken praised the Qatari diplomacy, noting the role of Qatar in ending the war and facilitating talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government through the efforts it has made over many years, noting that it is not a coincidence that the US transferred its diplomatic work from Afghanistan to Doha, expressing confidence that Qatar will continue to work side by side with the US.
“We appreciate the diplomacy of Qatar and its endeavor to maintain an open corridor from Afghanistan to the rest of the countries, and we value the efforts made by Qatar and Turkey to reopen Kabul airport,” he added.
On the progress of the evacuation efforts, the US Secretary of State confirmed the success of the evacuations, noting that thousands of American and Afghan citizens were successfully evacuated through special flights, stressing that efforts are continuing to arrange other flights and remove any obstacles to ensure that these flights are organised so that you can leave Afghanistan safely. At the same time, the lack of teams on the ground hinders the process of verifying the accuracy of passenger lists and securing flights, describing this matter as a challenge that requires a huge amount of diplomatic efforts to overcome.
Blinken described this operation as one of the most complex operations in recent memory, expressing his confidence that Qatar’s cooperation with the United States in this process will contribute to its success, noting that the friendly relations between the two countries are in their strongest form
He stressed that the evacuation and transport operations have further strengthened the relationship between the two countries, which will have a positive impact on the bilateral relations between the two countries in various fields in the coming months and years.
In this context, Blinken indicated that one of the challenges facing the evacuation efforts from Afghanistan is that there are a group of individuals who hold official travel documents, while others do not carry those documents, stressing that the Taliban pledged allowing those who wish to leave Afghanistan provided that they possess official travel documents, and given that these individuals are linked to each other, they face difficulty in leaving.
On the number of American citizens who are still in Afghanistan, he said, “We believe that at this time, the number of people with US citizenship in Afghanistan is in the range of 100, and although we have sent messages to citizens registered at the embassy encouraging and urging them to leave Afghanistan due to the security situation, with the start of the evictions that began in August In the past, there were 6,000 American citizens in Afghanistan, and almost all of them were transferred during the two weeks that we worked on the evacuation, but some did not make the decision to leave or were unable to take it, and we are in direct contact with them and we have a team dedicated to dealing with them and managing their cases to make sure that they can leave if they wish to do so.”
For his part, US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin expressed his thanks and gratitude for the efforts of Qatar and its support for the evacuation from Afghanistan of American citizens, allies and partners, and Afghan citizens at risk.
Austin described that operation as the largest operation in history, during which Qatar, through the Qatari Armed Forces and in cooperation with its partners, transported more than 124,000 people to safety, stressing that this achievement would not have been achieved without Qatar’s support and assistance, and that Qatar provided more than duty and contributed to saving thousands of lives.
The US Secretary of Defence indicated that cooperation between Qatar and the US is continuing on many levels, pointing out that there are common priorities between the two countries, and expressing his country’s gratitude for the State of Qatar’s continued hosting of US forces to ensure their presence in a strategic location “to support critical missions in Territory”.
He continued, “The relations of the United States of America are not limited to defence matters only, but go deeper than that, as we work with our regional partners towards several common goals with the aim of reducing conflicts, providing humanitarian assistance to civilians who need it most, and reducing tensions.”
“We believe that this is the right way to ensure regional security and stability, and we realise that Qatar stands with us in promoting security and peace. Qatar has provided humanitarian aid from Yemen to Gaza and has facilitated the Afghan peace negotiations,” he added.
On the success of the sudden exit of the US armed forces from Afghanistan or not, he said, “What happened in the post-withdrawal phase is something we will study carefully over the coming weeks and months and I will not try to describe this matter, but I am proud of the wonderful work what our brave men from the armed forces did to evacuate 124,000 people from Kabul airport in a very short period under difficult and dangerous conditions.”
He added that there is no perfect process, there are always lessons to be learned, “and what we always do in the US military is to do a post-event review process to see what we did and what could have been done better.”
