The Diplomat
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, announced yesterday in Luxembourg that the ambassador appointed for Afghanistan, Ricardo Losa, will move “shortly” to Qatar to follow the situation of the Taliban regime from there.
The Diplomat learnt Losa, who was appointed ambassador in Kabul on 3 August but was unable to take up his post due to the Taliban offensive, could arrive in Doha this weekend. Until now, he has been working in a specific unit on Afghanistan set up in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which he will now take over from Doha.
There he will be based at the Spanish Embassy in Qatar to take charge of everything related to Afghanistan, including possible non-political contacts with the Taliban regime.
Some fourteen countries have already transferred their ambassadors to Afghanistan or their envoys to Doha to follow the Afghan situation, not least because the Taliban maintain a Political Office in the Qatari capital.
Qatar has become a key country in relation to the crisis in Afghanistan and several foreign ministers, including Albares himself, have been there after the Taliban forces took control of the country this summer.
Last week, the Spanish ambassador to Qatar, Belén Alfaro, took part in a meeting with other Western diplomats and representatives of the Taliban regime, led by its acting foreign minister, Amir Jan Muttaqi.
The talks were not of a political nature and their objective was to address operational issues, along the lines of what Albares pointed out in his appearance in Congress on 30 August. There he insisted that the government was not considering recognising the new Taliban regime, but he did not rule out “operational contacts” with a view to continuing to get Afghans who collaborated with Spain out of the country, providing humanitarian aid for the population and “guaranteeing respect for human rights, particularly those of women and girls”.
A new contact with the Taliban by the EU ambassadors in Doha could take place next week, according to some sources, although always on the assumption that this would not imply any recognition of the Kabul regime. Ricardo Losa is already expected to take part in this meeting.
Yesterday, the Foreign Minister insisted that at this time “cooperation with Qatar is fundamental” both for Spain and for other European countries.
Afghanistan was one of the issues discussed in Luxembourg at the meeting of EU foreign ministers, who noted “how the economic and social situation is deteriorating”, explained Albares, who stressed the “need to implement the necessary measures, especially the arrival of humanitarian aid, to prevent the Afghan crisis from becoming a regional crisis”.
