WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday he would travel to Qatar on Sunday to meet the country’s leaders and thank them for their help with Evakarees from Afghanistan, and then went to Germany for a ministerial meeting.
Blinken said at a press conference at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he would meet with Afghanistan and workers in Qatar Capital Doha “who did a truly heroic job all the time.” He said he would travel to Ramstein’s air base in Germany where he would also meet Afghanistan.
The minister’s meeting will be held virtually with partners, including more than 20 countries that have shares in moving and settling Afghanistan.
Blinken also said the US government maintained contact with the Taliban.
“We continue to maintain communication channels with the Taliban, on important problems,” Blinken said.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs “in constant contact” with Americans left in Afghanistan who still wanted to leave the country, said Blinken.
“We have a dedicated team assigned to each of these Americans to come into contact with them.
We give them a very customized guide, very specific,” he said.
Almost all that remains is a double citizen whose house is in Afghanistan and the big family lives there, said Blinken.
“It’s no surprise that deciding whether to leave where they call the house is a heartbreaking decision,” he said.
Blinken also described the department’s efforts since President Joe Biden served in January to accelerate the processing of special visas for Afghanistan who worked with US forces during the 20-year war, thousands of them were still in Afghanistan.