Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday that the Gulf nation of Qatar has agreed to represent American interests in Afghanistan following the closure of the US Embassy in Kabul in late August.
Blinken said Qatar will serve as the “protecting power” for the United States in Taliban-run Afghanistan, a move that suggests the Biden administration has little confidence that it will re-open the embassy in the near future.
Qatar will establish a US Interests section within its own embassy in Kabul to provide consular and other services to American citizens in Afghanistan, Blinken said.