Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs H E Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani has said that Qatar is facilitating the evacuation of foreign nationals, Afghan citizens and others from Kabul.
Talking to Fox News yesterday, the Deputy Prime Minister said that Qatar is participating in the evacuation of foreign nationals and Afghan nationals out of Kabul and transiting them to Qatar and then they are being sent to their countries or the countries which are receiving them.
He said that the number of evacuees in Qatar was 7,000 but according to him the numbers were increasing. “Tonight we are going to receive a large number of people and there are also many who were evacuated earlier have been processed or left either to their home countries or to the US or countries that will be allocated to them.”
To a question, he said Qatar had been asked to mediate between the Taliban and the US and the Taliban and Afghan government.
“We remain impartial mediator throughout this process and maintained the contact with all the parties which has now helped us to serve in helping and supporting different foreign citizens who are living there in Afghanistan,” he said. The Deputy Prime Minister further said that currently Qatar was facilitating the evacuation process.
“Right now we are trying to facilitate people from their places to the airport. Our embassy has been involved in the evacuation process which we are doing for some of the media outlets, which are operating there, and some of the schools. We are taking them to the airport and ensuring their safety throughout the way.”
He said that Qatar was trying to facilitate other countries which do not have access to reach their people. “We are trying our best to help in evacuating people who want to leave Kabul.”
Right now, the Deputy Prime Minister said, there are a lot of challenges because the situation is still unstable.
“These challenges actually vary. There is safety and security issues and a lot of logistic challenges.”
To another question regarding his message for US citizens, he said: “I believe it is important to understand that the country has went through different wars and there have been different conflicts from civil conflict to conflict between the Taliban and the US. We cannot expect that situation will stabilise in a day or two, and it will take time.”
“It will need a lot of efforts and international consensus,” he said, and asked the international community to be united in urging the Taliban to engage with other parties to have a peaceful transition, and the power sharing format among different political parties that ensures representation of everyone also protects the basic rights of the people of Afghanistan.
“Qatar is calling upon the Taliban on these matters and also urging the other countries to call upon the Taliban in the same manner.”
To another question, the Deputy Prime Minister said that Qatar was urging the Taliban to protect the people, especially foreigners and diplomatic missions and not to mistreat them in any way.
“We have seen some official statements from them ensuring the safety and security of foreigners. We are watching very closely and observing the situation on the ground. Until now we did not receive any report about a major crisis involving foreigners and we hope that it will not happen and we hope the Taliban will also act in a way to demonstrate to the world that world can be with them,” he said.