Behind how Qatar became a key player in Afghanistan

By virtue of being a trusted and reliable facilitator between the US and the Taliban, Qatar has emerged as a key player in Afghanistan and is using that opportunity to strengthen its engagement with Western powers.

Hyderabad: Soon after that the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, the first aircraft to land at Kabul airport following the departure of the US was that of Qatar Airways. It brought a team of technical experts to assist the Taliban to resume operations at the airport, on the latter’s request.

Earlier, following the Taliban takeover of Kabul August 15, the US reached out to Qatar to help shoulder the evacuation of tens of thousands of people in a chaotic and hurried airlift. Given its ties with both Washington and the Taliban, today the tiny peninsular Arab state is uniquely placed to play an important role in Afghanistan.

The relationship between Qatar and the Taliban is not new. About a decade into the US-led intervention in Afghanistan, there was growing recognition in Washington that there may never be an outright military victory against the Taliban and thus the need for a political solution gained momentum. The international forces, led by the US arrived at the conclusion that talks with the Taliban are imperative to bring the war in Afghanistan to a sustainable end. In 2010, a tribal council in Afghanistan was established to find members of the Taliban and convince them to join the peace process. The aim was to offer protection to a few Taliban leaders in a foreign country so that the Afghan government and the Taliban could begin the reconciliation process by engaging in peace talks.

Subsequently, the search for a neutral venue to negotiate with the Islamist militia began. In 2013, following several rounds of negotiations, Qatar allowed the Taliban to open a political office in Doha with the support of the US administration under Barack Obama. In 2018, the co-founder of the Taliban, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar reportedly was released from a Pakistani prison at Washington’s behest, where he was detained since 2010.

Mullah Baradar later became the chief of Taliban’s political office in Doha. Multiple negotiations between the US and the Taliban then led to the signing of the US-Taliban Peace Agreement in February 2020 in Doha. Although the Taliban’s rapid rise to power has rendered the agreement obsolete, but the image of the US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad and Mullah Baradar shaking hands in the Qatari capital after signing the deal will remain an iconic image of Afghanistan’s recent history.

Several high-level meetings and engagements pertaining to Afghanistan have been hosted by Qatar, including the much-hyped intra-Afghan negotiations between the representatives of the Ashraf Ghani-led Afghan government and the Taliban September 12, 2020, in the presence of several key stakeholders and international organisations. It can be argued that the establishment of Taliban’s political office in Doha gave Qatar an easy access to the Islamist group, additionally being the host of several high-profile meetings and discussions on the future of Afghanistan. Qatar slowly emerged as a significant player in Afghanistan.

After the fall of Kabul, Doha's ties to the “victor” Taliban put it in a unique position. Immediately after the Taliban takeover of Kabul, Qatar was seen playing a significant role in US efforts to evacuate 124,000 people from Afghanistan.

As host of the biggest US military base in the Middle East, Qatar has been a major gateway for around 55,000 people airlifted out of Afghanistan, nearly half the total evacuated by US-led forces. US President Joe Biden acknowledged Doha’s contributions when he thanked Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani for his “generous support”.

After the completion of the withdrawal from Afghanistan, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken proclaimed that his country's military mission in Afghanistan was over and a “new chapter” of diplomatic engagement with the country has begun. In the same statement, he announced the suspension of its diplomatic presence in Kabul (amid security concerns) and relocation of its diplomatic operations to Qatar. Earlier, Washington had also invited Qatar to be part of an important virtual meeting to discuss a coordinated approach for Afghanistan along with Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the European Union and NATO.

As a long-time facilitator and mediator between the West and the Taliban, Washington might look at Qatar to play the crucial role of coordination between the two sides in the days to come. Therefore, it is hardly surprising that the US Secretary of State chose to go to Qatar September 6 for his first trip since the Taliban takeover in order to build a united front with allies shaken by the chaos.

Soon after that the Taliban proclaimed Afghanistan’s full independence. The first aircraft to land at the Kabul airport following the US departure was that of Qatar Airways, which brought a team of technical experts to assist the Taliban to resume operations at the airport, on the latter’s request. Earlier, following the Taliban takeover of Kabul on August 15, the US reached out to Qatar to help shoulder the evacuation of tens of thousands in a chaotic and hurried airlift. Given its ties with both Washington and the Taliban, today the tiny peninsular Arab state is uniquely placed to play an important role in Afghanistan.

It is important to note that Doha has brokered negotiations between competing factions in several of the Middle East's major conflicts. But in the wake of Arab Spring, its Gulf rivals accused it of siding with Islamists. In 2017, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt and Bahrain cut ties (which were later restored) accusing Qatar of getting too close to Iran and fueling instability via its state-owned news channel.

The news channel's role in putting forward Qatar’s narrative pertaining to Afghanistan is important to note. This Qatari media outlet has been providing a platform to the Taliban to address the public for years and was the only network to broadcast the entry of the Taliban into the presidential palace of Afghanistan, Arg.

Reportedly, Qatar’s Ambassador to Afghanistan Saeed bin Mubarak Al Khayarin personally helped thousands of desperate Afghans to get through the Taliban and American checkpoints to reach the Kabul airport. Qatari officials also managed to evacuate an all-girls robotics team, more than 250 inmates of a girls’ boarding school along with staff members as well as journalists working for international media outlets.

Ever since the final evacuation flight left Kabul August 31, several countries have raised concerns about their respective citizens who have been left behind, calling for the need to resume evacuations. The efforts led by Qatar and Turkey to help resume flights at Kabul airport for both humanitarian aid and to provide freedom of movement, including the resumption of evacuation efforts, have further enhanced the Gulf nation's reputation.

On September 12, Qatar’s Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani visited Kabul and met Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund, the acting Prime Minister in the Taliban’s new government. In the first highest level foreign visit to Kabul since the Taliban seized the capital last month, the Qatari Foreign Minister called upon the country’s new rulers to "involve all Afghan parties in national reconciliation".

The unique position that Qatar finds itself in today, is not only a result of its close linkages and access to the fundamentalist outfit by virtue of being the host of its political office, but also, because the Taliban have come to recognise it as a trusted and neutral broker. Yet how much influence Qatar has over the Taliban is still not clear.

After the Taliban seized Afghanistan, several countries have tried to maintain some contact with the them through the Doha channel. India’s first formal diplomatic engagement with the Taliban happened in Doha a few days back when the Indian envoy met Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai, the head of the Taliban’s political office in Doha to discuss matters of immediate concern for New Delhi. The United Kingdom has also tried to reach out to the Taliban via the Doha channel to secure safe passage of its citizens out of Afghanistan.

On August 25, Germany's Ambassador Markus Potzel held talks with the Taliban in Doha and the EU is also likely to make use of the Qataris' contacts for upcoming talks with the Taliban. As the living conditions in Afghanistan worsen, UN agencies have sought to deliver aid in the country with the help of Doha. At a time when the world’s powers are scrambling to exert influence amid the return of an Islamic regime in Afghanistan, Doha is trying to position itself as an impartial facilitator with the help of a soft power approach. The fact is, Qatar is a pragmatic actor that wants, like all states, to maximise its influence. The tiny energy-rich nation with a little more than 300,000 citizens, is heavily dependent on US for protection and would want US to continue operating its airbase in the country. Afghanistan provided Qatar with a unique opportunity to solidify its role within the international community and appear on the map of regional as well as world politics, and it is trying to make the best use out of it.

By virtue of being a trusted and reliable facilitator between the US and the Taliban, Qatar has emerged as a key player in Afghanistan. Doha may have seen Afghanistan as an opportunity to strengthen its engagement with the Western powers and it has been utilising that opportunity effectively. At a time when the world’s powers are trying to figure out ways to deal with the new dispensation in Afghanistan, Qatar is capitalising on its recent history of contact with the Taliban to establish itself as a mediator and facilitator and solidify its role within the international community.