Ever since Kabul fell to Taliban, Qatar has served as an important transit level for these being evacuated from Afghanistan.
US President Joe Biden has thanked Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani for its “generous support” to Washington in evacuating folks stranded within the war-torn nation.
According to the White House, Biden mentioned the airlifts “would not have been possible without the early support from Qatar”.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had on Friday praised Qatar for offering transit to US Air Force planes bringing US residents and Afghan nationals from Kabul.
He tweeted, “Spoke yesterday with @MBA_AlThani_about Afghanistan and Qatar’s generous support to safely transit U.S. citizens, Embassy Kabul personnel, and at-risk Afghans through Doha. We commend Qatar for its efforts to promote regional security.”
Spoke yesterday with @MBA_AlThani_ about Afghanistan and Qatar’s beneficiant assist to securely transit U.S. residents, Embassy Kabul personnel, and at-risk Afghans by means of Doha. We commend Qatar for its efforts to advertise regional safety.
— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) August 20, 2021
On Friday evening, about 300 folks evacuated from Afghanistan and brought to Qatar reached the US Ramstein Air Base in Germany, which is one other transit level for folks being taken to the US.
Blinken additionally mentioned that Qatar is without doubt one of the international locations which has agreed to resettle refugees from Afghanistan. He mentioned other than Qatar, 12 different international locations—Albania, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Kosovo, Mexico, North Macedonia, Poland, Qatar, Rwanda, Uganda and Ukraine — have agreed to the proposal.
Resources stretched to capability
However, sources on the Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar have been stretched to capability. In reality, a backlog at a transit facility in Qatar had compelled authorities to cease flights from the Kabul airport for six hours on Friday.
“The sites at Qatar were just at capacity, there was no room to flow in additional people,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby informed reporters in a media briefing.
“The flight delay out of Kabul lasted about six to seven hours and it was allowed to ensure that flights at our intermediate staging bases could receive more personnel. And that has been cleaned up as flights have departed there. It has allowed us now to continue with those that are ready to fly out of Kabul,” US Army Maj General Hank Taylor was quoted as saying by Al Jazeera.
Thereafter, Bahrain introduced that it will permit flights from Afghanistan to make use of its transit amenities.
Apart from Bahrain and Qatar, the opposite international locations which the US has been utilizing as transit factors for evacuating folks from Afghanistan embody Britain, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Tajikistan, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Uzbekistan.
“We deeply appreciate the support they have offered, and are proud to partner with them in our shared support of the Afghan people. We are encouraged by other countries that are also considering providing support. We have no higher priority than the safety and security of US citizens overseas and to fulfill our commitments to citizens of partner nations and at-risk Afghans,” Blinken was quoted as saying by the Associated Press.
Praise for Qatar’s efforts coming in from all quarters
Praise for Qatar has been coming in from different international locations as properly. French lawmaker Sebastien Nadot lately mentioned that Qatar “is assuming as much as possible” in efforts to evacuate civilians caught in war-torn Afghanistan.
Nadot, who chairs a parliamentary fee of inquiry into the residing circumstances of migrants and refugees, tweeted “To sum up: the USA, Westerners, UK, France are totally overwhelmed by the scale of the damage in Afghanistan. Qatar is assuming as much as possible, humanitarian aid, NGOs, journalists, refugees.”
Nadot was responding to a number of stories stating that Qatar had helped the New York Times and different media shops to evacuate their workers from Afghanistan.
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas had additionally “thanked Qatar for their support” in the course of the evacuation course of, the German Foreign Ministry tweeted. Maas additionally added that Qatar Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani and his nation have “taken on a real leadership role.”
Indian flights utilizing Qatar as transit level for evacuation
India has additionally been utilizing Qatar as an important transit level for its train of evacuating folks from Afghanistan. On Sunday, the second batch of 146 Indian nationals had been introduced again by way of the Doha airport.
Bringing Indians again from Afghanistan.
2nd batch of 146 Indian nationwide, who had been evacuated from Afganistan to Doha, being repatriated at the moment to India.
Thank everybody concerned for his or her assist. @MEAIndia @DrSJaishankar pic.twitter.com/9Jr5XnieB5
— India in Qatar (@IndEmbDoha) August 22, 2021
Doha had been used as a transit level for evacuating Indians from Afghanistan earlier as properly.
On August 22, The Indian Embassy in Doha had tweeted, “1st batch of 135 Indians who were evacuated 4m Kabul to Doha over past days being repatriated tonight to India. Emb officials provided consular & logistics asst to ensure their safe return. We thank Qatar authorities n all concerned for making this possible.”
1st batch of 135 Indians who had been evacuated 4m Kabul to Doha over previous days being repatriated tonight to India. Emb officers offered consular&logistics asst to make sure their secure return. We thank Qatar authorities n all involved for making this potential@MEAIndia@DrSJaishankar pic.twitter.com/xueNYg6K1F
— India in Qatar (@IndEmbDoha) August 21, 2021
The 135 Indians evacuated from Kabul to Doha by US and NATO plane had been flown again to Delhi on a particular flight.
On the identical day, 168 folks, together with 107 Indians, airlifted from Kabul to the Hindon airbase in Ghaziabad, in an Indian Air Force C-17 army transport plane.
On Monday, India had introduced again 146 of its nationals to Delhi in 4 totally different flights from Doha, days after they had been evacuated from Kabul by NATO and American plane.
India started its evacuation mission by airlifting 40 Indians from Kabul to Delhi on August 16, a day after the Taliban seized management of the Afghan capital metropolis.
The newest batch evacuated by India consists of 78 folks, together with 25 of its nationals and plenty of Afghan Sikhs and Hindus from Dushanbe, a day after they had been evacuated from Taliban-besieged Kabul.
The group was airlifted from Kabul to Dushanbe by a army transport plane of the Indian Air Force on Monday.
With Tuesday’s evacuation, the variety of folks introduced again to Delhi reached over 800 since August 16.
(With company inputs)
