Qatar says hosted Taliban ‘at request of US’
Qatar hosted the armed Taliban at the request of the government of the United States, a senior Qatari official said.
Mutlaw Al Qahtani, a senior counterterrorism adviser to Qatar’s foreign minister told Al Jazeera on Sunday the Gulf country hosted the Taliban “by request by the US government” and as part of Qatar’s “open-door policy, to facilitate talks, to mediate and to bring peace”.
The US did not immediately comment on the report.
The Taliban opened its “political office” in Qatar in 2013.
The statement by Al Qahtani comes after US President Donald Trump accused Qatar of “historically” funding “terrorism at a very high level” – an allegation Qatar denies. And at the same time, Qatar has come under intense pressure from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, the Maldives, and Egypt — all of which have broken off ties with Doha.
The regional countries have suspended all land, air, and sea traffic with Qatar, ejected its diplomats, and ordered most Qatari citizens to leave.
However, Moscow on Saturday called for dialogue between Qatar and its neighbours in the Gulf, promising help in mediating the crisis.
Russia’s foreign minister Sergey Lavrov met with Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, in the Russian capital and said Moscow was saddened by a decision by some members of the (Persian) Gulf Cooperation Council to cut their diplomatic ties with Qatar, adding that it was in Russia’s interest to see the countries of the region united in the fight against terrorism.
