US moves Kabul embassy to Doha, Blinken tells House Committee

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday night that Washington has moved its diplomatic operations from Kabul to Doha and that it remains focused on counterterrorism efforts in the region.

Addressing the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Blinken said: “We moved our diplomatic operations from Kabul to Doha, where our new Afghan affairs team is hard at work. Many of our key partners have joined us there.”

He also stated that the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has committed to prevent terrorist groups from using Afghanistan as a base for external operations that could threaten the United States or its allies, including al-Qaeda and ISIS-K (Daesh).

“We’ll hold them accountable for that. That does not mean we will rely on them. We will remain vigilant in monitoring threats, we’ll maintain robust counterterrorism capabilities in the region to neutralize those threats if necessary – and we do that in places around the world where we do not have military forces on the ground,” he said.

He also said that the US continues its intensive diplomacy with allies and partners.

“We initiated a statement joined by more than half the world’s countries – over a hundred countries – as well as a United Nations Security Council resolution setting out the international community’s expectations of a Taliban-led (Islamic Emirate) government.

“We expect the Taliban (Islamic Emirate) to ensure freedom of travel; to make good on its commitments on counterterrorism; to uphold the basic rights of the Afghan people, including women, girls, and minorities; to name a broadly representative permanent government; to forswear reprisals.

“The legitimacy and support the Taliban (Islamic Emirate) seeks from the international community will depend on its conduct,” he said.

Blinken said he led a ministerial meeting of 22 countries, NATO, the EU, and the United Nations, to continue to align efforts on Afghanistan.”

This comes just hours after the US announced it is providing nearly $64 million in new humanitarian assistance to the people of Afghanistan to meet critical health and nutrition needs.

This additional funding means the United States has provided nearly $330 million in assistance to the Afghan people this fiscal year.

Blinken also gave a full report back on the US troops withdrawal process from Afghanistan and the evacuation process and said the emergency evacuation was sparked by the collapse of the Afghan security forces and government.

“Throughout the year, we were constantly assessing their staying power and considering multiple scenarios. Even the most pessimistic assessments did not predict that government forces in Kabul would collapse while US forces remained.

Quoting General Mark Milley, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Blinken said: “Nothing I or anyone else saw indicated a collapse of this army and this government in 11 days.”