Evolution of Qatar’s foreign policy in Afghanistan

Аннотация

The author divided the evolution of Qatar's foreign policy in Afghanistan into four stages. The emirate purposefully increased its efforts in the Afghan track, wisely using its existing capabilities. No less importantly, Qatar took into account the shortcomings of its policy in a number of countries (Syria, Yemen, Sudan, and partly Palestine). As a result, for some time the Emirate became the center of attraction for the international community on almost all key issues related to Afghanistan. The article also paid attention to the intricacies of diplomatic work on organizing a political office of the Taliban Movement in Doha, which became a turning point for Qatar's policy in Afghanistan. Keywords: Qatar, Afghanistan, Taliban, conflict, negotiations, settlement. 2020, a peace agreement was signed between the Introduction: Currently, the system of international United States and the Taliban in the Qatari capital, and relations is undergoing a radical transformation. in September 2020, Qatar hosted historic peace talks Geopolitical confrontation between the main centers between the government of Afghanistan and the of power is intensifying. Against the backdrop of a Taliban. gradual weakening of the role of the United States, the process of transition from a unipolar to a multipolar Qatar's role in Afghanistan has especially increased world is underway. Russia, China, Turkey and a number after the fall of Ghani’s government and the Taliban's of other countries are increasingly persistently rise to power. Doha played a critical role in the promoting their interests on the world stage. evacuation of thousands of Afghans and Western citizens, and also took on the role of the main mediator In these conditions, the role of medium and small between Western countries and the new Afghan countries, which previously were assigned an government. insignificant, and sometimes absolutely no role in global politics, is increasing. One of them is the state of At the same time, Qatar has managed to become one Qatar, located in the Persian Gulf. Occupying an area of of the main players in the Afghan settlement in a 11 thousand square kilometers and having its own relatively short historical period. Given this, it is population of 400 thousand people, the emirate is appropriate to study the evolution of Qatar's Afghan pursuing an ambitious foreign policy, seemingly policy. In chronological order, it can be divided into disproportionate to its indicators. several successive stages. The main priority of Qatar's foreign policy is the The first stage - Qatar remains in the shadow of its peaceful settlement of disputes through mediation. In Arab allies this regard, Doha has recently sought to play an The first stage (1971-1996) of Qatar's policy in important role in resolving a number of conflicts in the Afghanistan covers a fairly significant period of time - Middle East and North Africa (Lebanon, Sudan, Yemen, from the period when the emirate gained Palestine). independence (1971) until the first coming to power of In this context, the emirate has made the most progress the Taliban (1996). At the same time, due to various in Afghanistan - since 2013, the Taliban Movement's factors, the emirate was unable to take an active part political office has been operating in Doha, in February in the turbulent events unfolding in Afghanistan. International Journal Of History And Political Sciences 32 https://theusajournals.com/index.php/ijhps International Journal Of History And Political Sciences (ISSN – 2771-2222) In December 1979, the USSR sent troops to The second stage (1996-2010) is characterized by Afghanistan, causing discontent and public outcry in Qatar's attempt to take its place in the Afghan issue. Muslim countries. Soon, a global jihad against the Qatar maintained very close relations with the Taliban, largest atheistic state began in Afghanistan, in which a although it did not recognize Taliban’s authority during number of Qatar's neighbors in the Persian Gulf were their first rule (1996-2001). involved in one way or another. As one of the key US allies in the Middle East, Doha did According to some reports, during the war in not join the US-led military operation in Afghanistan in Afghanistan (1979-1989), Saudi Arabia provided response to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. military and financial assistance to the Afghan In this context, it is significant that on November 16, opposition in the amount of $3 billion. In turn, Arab 2001, the Americans “mistakenly” dropped bombs on private donors and NGOs also provided generous the offices of the Qatari satellite television channel Al financial assistance to the mujahideen, annually Jazeera in Kabul. The Pentagon denied that the channel allocating about $400 million [1]. was deliberately targeted, but could not explain the reason for the attack [4]. According to various estimates, approximately 35 thousand foreign Muslims from 43 Islamic countries After the fall of the Tal