US Treasury’s Adeyemo, Qatari leaders discuss Afghanistan humanitarian needs

U.S. Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo and senior Qatari leaders this week discussed their shared interest in meeting the humanitarian needs of the Afghan people, the U.S. Treasury Department said in a statement on Friday.

According to the Treasury, Adeyemo traveled to Doha, Qatar on Thursday and met Prime Minister Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz Al Thani and other high-ranking officials.

According to the statement, Adeyemo also discussed equitable growth, recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, the opportunities and challenges posed by virtual assets, and the United States’ shared interest in meeting the humanitarian needs of the Afghan people.

Last week the United States and Qatar agreed that Qatar will represent the diplomatic interests of the United States in Afghanistan.

Qatar signed an arrangement last Friday assuming the role of “protecting power” for U.S. interests to help facilitate any formal communication between Washington and the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) government in Afghanistan, which the United States does not recognize.

The move comes at a time when the United States and other Western countries are grappling with how to engage with the IEA after they took over Afghanistan in a lightning advance in August as U.S.-led forces were withdrawing after two decades of war.