Qatari and British officials discuss situation in Afghanistan

Qatar’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement Thursday that Maryam bint Ali bin Nasser Al Misnad, Minister of State for International Cooperation, has met with British Special Representative for Afghanistan Andrew McCoubrey for talks on Afghanistan.

According to the statement, the need to strengthen bilateral cooperation in the fields of health, education and humanitarian and development projects in Afghanistan were discussed.

Qatari and British officials stressed that the meeting was testimony to the strategic commitment of the two countries in support of the people of Afghanistan.

Currently, most countries cooperate only in the humanitarian sector. Some regional countries have also forged diplomatic ties with Afghanistan.

Western countries however continue to keep their diplomatic distance.

Qatar in turn is considered as a diplomatic, economic and humanitarian supporter of Afghanistan and has hosted the Doha meeting three times.

But according to experts, these meetings have not delivered tangible results so far because the sanctions have not been lifted nor have officials of the Islamic Emirate been removed from the blacklist.