National

The Taliban on Saturday issued new rules that require women to cover their faces in public, saying the ideal covering is the head-to-toe burqa, Reuters reports. 

The big picture: The decree is the latest in a growing list of harsh restrictions the Taliban have placed on women in recent months amid fears the group is returning to the brutal grip it ruled with in the 1990s, when women's freedoms were severely restricted. 

The Taliban in March abruptly backtracked on its promise to allow girls to attend school above grade 6. 

The group has also placed restrictions on women's movement. 

Not long after the Taliban takeover last August, the group replaced the women's ministry with the "Ministries of Prayer and Guidance and the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice."

Afghan women and girls take part in a protest in front of the Ministry of Education in Kabul on March 26, 2022

Afghan women and girls take part in a protest in front of the Ministry of Education in Kabul on March 26. Photo: Ahmad Sahel Arman/AFP via Getty Images

What they're saying: “For all dignified Afghan women wearing Hijab is necessary and the best Hijab is chadori (the head-to-toe burqa), which is part of our tradition and is respectful,” said Shir Mohammad, an official from the vice and virtue ministry in a statement, per AP. 

“Those women who are not too old or young must cover their face, except the eyes,” he said.

Husbands, fathers or brothers of women who do not adhere to the new rules could face imprisonment, per Afghanistan's TOLO news. 

The decree added that it is better for women who do not have important work outside the house to remain home. 

Heather Barr, an associate director at Human Right Watch, tweeted Saturday that it's "far past time for a serious and strategic response to the Taliban’s escalating assault on women’s rights."

"How the world responds has implications for women’s rights everywhere on the planet," Barr added. 

UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet last year said the Taliban's treatment of women and girls will be a "fundamental red line."

State of play: The Taliban has faced growing criticism and distrust from the international community since its takeover last year. 

Amid cuts in aid, the country faces a deepening humanitarian crisis, with more than half the population experiencing acute hunger, according to the UN.

Taliban order Afghan women to cover faces in public

Rights groups condemned the move, saying it's time for a "strategic response to the Taliban’s ... assault on women’s rights."

Women in Puli Alam, Afghanistan. Photo: Marcus Yam/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

Taliban

Afghanistan

China is becoming the most formidable rival America has faced, and the risk of confrontation with Russia, North Korea or Iran still looms. Authoritarians are rising, the chaotic Afghanistan exit revealed the limits of U.S. power, and the pandemic, climate change and other critical challenges continue to pose grave threats.

World

An explosion at a packed mosque in the Afghan capital Kabul on Friday killed at least 10 people and injured dozens of others, AP reports.

Driving the news: The blast at the Khalifa Aga Gul Jan Mosque, a Sunni mosque in western Kabul, took place as worshippers gathered for prayers on the last Friday of the holy month of Ramadan. Officials fear the death toll will rise.

No group immediately claimed responsibility. 

The big picture: It's the latest in a series of attacks on places of worship, educational institutions and other places in recent weeks. While many of the attacks have targeted Afghanistan's Shiite minority, Sunni mosques have been hit as well. 

Two blasts claimed by ISIS killed at least nine people who were traveling on passenger vans carrying Shiite Muslims in northern Afghanistan on Thursday, per Reuters. 

Kabul's Emergency Hospital said it had received over 100 victims of attacks in the month of April alone.

What they're saying: The Taliban strongly condemned Friday's attack, saying such acts "have nothing do with Islam and the country." 

Mette Knudsen, the UN secretary-general’s deputy special representative for Afghanistan, said in a statement that "no words are strong enough to condemn this despicable act, targeting a place of worship, as Muslims across Afghanistan prepare to celebrate the Eid" religious holiday. 

It "totally disregards human lives and religious sanctity," Knudsen added. 

Blast at Kabul mosque kills at least 10 and injures dozens of others

The mosque was packed with worshippers gathered for prayers on the last Friday of Ramadan.

Wounded people are dispatched to hospitals after a bomb exploded in a mosque in the Afghan capital Kabul during Friday prayers on April 29, 2022

Wounded people are dispatched to hospitals after a bomb exploded in a mosque in the Afghan capital Kabul during Friday prayers on April 29. Photo: Haroon Sabawoon/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

An American citizen detained by the Taliban says he was wrongfully accused of espionage but that his release can be a case study for U.S. diplomacy with the still-unrecognized Afghan government.

Driving the news: Safi Rauf, 27, whose non-profit helped evacuate thousands of at-risk Afghans during the fall of Kabul — including an interpreter who once helped President Biden — shared new details of his 105-day detention in an interview with Axios.

President Biden called Rauf on Thursday, hours after the interview, and invited him and his family to the White House next week, Rauf's girlfriend, Sammi Cannold, told Axios.

Flashback: Rauf was born in an Afghan refugee camp in Pakistan and came to the U.S. as a teenager. He deployed to Afghanistan for four years as a linguist and cultural adviser embedded with the military and continues to serve as a Navy reservist.

Rauf first visited Taliban-controlled Kabul in November while the aid group he founded with his brothers, Human First Coalition, was assessing how to stem the rapidly unfolding humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan.

He said he worked closely with the U.S. government and the Taliban to provide aid and evacuate Afghans who had documents to leave — and that both entities were "completely on board" with Human First's operations.

"We were not sneaking around," he stressed. "These were all people who were approved by the U.S. government."

But Rauf says he earned enemies with his efforts to call out corrupt "middlemen" in Afghanistan's humanitarian aid network, who were exploiting the desperation of Afghan civilians in order to extract cash.

Rauf says "bad actors" saw him and his brothers, who were working for free, as a threat to their profiteering.

He believes these men conspired to have him and other aid workers detained by telling the Taliban they were spies for foreign governments or working for the Afghan resistance.

Safi Rauf with a former teacher who lost her job and whom he helped on the streets of Kabul

Rauf on the streets of Kabul helping a former teacher who had lost her job . Photo courtesy of Sammi Cannold

On Dec. 18, nine days after Rauf had returned for a second time to help expand operations on the ground, senior officers from the General Directorate of Intelligence came to his hotel and asked to interview all of the foreigners.

The officials assured Rauf he'd be released after recording a statement at headquarters. He cooperated, "extremely confident" he had done nothing wrong, and provided all the appropriate paperwork. 

But instead of being released, Rauf, his brother Anees Khalil and three British nationals were taken to the basement of the building and detained for weeks in rooms that were 8 feet by 8 feet, with no phones, blankets, mattresses or sunlight.

What they're saying: "For the first month, the situation was very depressing. There was no hope," Rauf told Axios in a phone interview from his sister's home in Virginia, six days after his release.

Each time it rained, water flooded through the door, Rauf said. The detainees were not allowed to speak to anybody or have visitors.

"We thought that nobody was looking for us, nobody knew where we were, and any day they could come put us against the wall with a firing squad and shoot us all," he said. "That thought was always in the back of my head."

About 45 days in, Rauf and his fellow detainees were allowed a phone call by a Taliban interrogator who had been lobbying for their release but faced opposition from other intelligence officers still concerned about the spying allegations.

Rauf called his girlfriend and his brother Zabih, who were leading the effort to free the detainees alongside Rauf's colleague Alex Plitsas and State Department official J.P. Feldmayer.

They assured Rauf that they were working "day and night" to secure his release, and that a breakthrough was coming soon.

Safi and Anees at Dulles International Airport

Rauf (left) and his brother Anees Khalil arrive at Dulles International Airport, after the former's release. Photo courtesy of Sammi Cannold.

The night of March 31, the Taliban interrogator told Rauf and his brother that they would be released the next morning. He insisted there had been a "misunderstanding" and never any malicious intent.

They were escorted to Kabul's airport and met by U.S., British and Qatari officials in a C-17 transport plane.

News of their release broke while they were en route to Doha, where Cannold was waiting. He used her phone to call his family back home in Nebraska, having had his own phone confiscated by the Taliban.

There was one more hiccup when the brothers arrived at Dulles International Airport, where they were questioned for four hours by customs agents. Rauf said they "couldn't fathom" his explanation for where he had been.

Rauf said he and his family and friends shared a feast that night at his sister's house in Virginia, and laughed and cried together: "It was surreal."

The big picture: Rauf said there are three main messages he's hoping to spread in the wake of his ordeal: 

The humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan is unprecedented and needs more attention, with millions on the brink of starvation.

The Taliban must release all hostages, including U.S. citizen Mark Frerichs, in order to have a chance of gaining international legitimacy.

The U.S. should engage in diplomacy with the Taliban, like the two parties did in his case, to advance human rights. Isolating the Taliban is not the answer, he stressed.

What's next: Rauf's work with Human First Coalition is already kicking back into high gear. He plans soon to visit Poland and the U.K. to help Ukrainian refugees.

American released by Taliban recounts months-long nightmare

Safi Rauf, 27, was helping at-risk Afghans evacuate before the Taliban accused him of espionage.

Safi Rauf and Sammi Cannold the day after his release on Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar

Safi Rauf and his girlfriend, Sammi Cannold, at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar the day after his release . Photo courtesy of Sammi Cannold.

Taliban bans opium poppy production

Afghanistan is the world's largest producer of opium,  which has in the past provided a crucial revenue stream for the Taliban.

A farmer is seen at a poppy field in Kandahar, Afghanistan, on March 17. Photo: Mohammad Noori/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

An American citizen and his brother who were detained in Afghanistan since Dec. 18 have been released and are heading home to the United States via Qatar, the State Department confirmed Friday.

The big picture: Safi Rauf, the U.S. citizen, and his brother Anees Khalil, a British citizen with an American green card, were detained by the Taliban while engaged in licensed humanitarian aid work. They have been held in Afghanistan for 105 days as a result of what Rauf called a "misunderstanding."

Background: Rauf, a former Afghan refugee who came to the U.S. and later joined the U.S. Navy Reserves, is a founder of the Human First Coalition.

The organization helped evacuate Afghans after the fall of Kabul and provides humanitarian aid on the ground in Afghanistan.

In October, Human First Coalition helped secure the evacuation of an Afghan interpreter who assisted then-Sen. Joe Biden when his helicopter was forced to land in a snowstorm in Afghanistan in 2008.

What they're saying: In a statement confirming his release, Rauf thanked the U.S., British and Qatari governments as well as his team at Human First Coalition "and countless friends, in country, in the region, and all over the world."

"At this time, we are looking forward to reuniting with our family and loved ones and ultimately, I hope we can continue to advocate for and seek ways to serve the Afghan people in this critical time of need in Afghanistan," Rauf said.

"Unjustly holding Americans captive is always unacceptable, and we will not stop until every American who is being unjustly held against their will is able to hug their families once again," State Department spokesperson Ned Price said in a statement confirming Rauf and Khalil's release.

The big picture: The Taliban is still believed to be holding U.S. Navy veteran Mark Frerichs, who was detained in January 2020.

On Friday, the New Yorker published a "proof of life" video appearing to show Frerichs asking the Taliban to release him. Frerichs says in the 30-second video that it was filmed on Nov. 28, 2021.

President Biden said on the two-year anniversary of Frerichs' disappearance that the Taliban must release him "before it can expect any consideration of its aspirations for legitimacy."

The Taliban have reportedly offered to free Frerichs in exchange for the release of Afghan drug kingpin Bashir Noorzai, who is serving out a life sentence in the U.S.

Editor's note: This article has been updated with comment from the State Department and additional details on Mark Frerichs.

Taliban releases American aid worker detained in Afghanistan

Safi Rauf and his brother were held in Afghanistan for 105 days.

Taliban fighter stands guard at ceremony in Kabul on March 31. Photo: Ahmad Sahel Arman/AFP via Getty Images

The Taliban on Wednesday went back on a long-standing pledge to let girls return to high school this week, just hours after the schools reopened, The New York Times reports.

The big picture: The U.S. and other Western countries have been pushing for girls' high schools to reopen as a condition of sending aid to Afghanistan — where around 95% of the population does not have enough to eat, per Human Rights Watch.

So far, only girls up to the sixth grade have been allowed to attend school.

State of play: A spokesperson for the Afghan Education Ministry told the Times the Taliban decided not to allow girls in the sixth grade and above return to school because there's a lack of female religious uniforms.

The spokesperson also said there are not enough female teachers.

Catch up fast: The Taliban in September reopened high schools but said only male students were allowed to return to class, adding that girls would be able to attend as the security situation allowed.

At the time, teachers said that the decision to exclude girls led to them being "depressed," per The Wall Street Journal.

Flashback: Girls were barred from schools and most workplaces when the Taliban was last in power, from 1996 to 2001.

What they're saying: "I’m deeply troubled by multiple reports that the Taliban are not allowing girls above grade 6 to return to school," said Ian McCary, the chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul. 

"This is very disappointing and contradicts many Taliban assurances and statements," McCary added.

What to watch: Officials said girls' high schools would remain closed until they figure out a plan to have them reopen under their interpretation of Islamic law, per the Times.

Go deeper: Afghan women and girls fear for their futures after Taliban victory

Taliban suddenly backtrack on pledge to open schools for all girls

Girls' high schools were forced to close just hours after they reopened.

Picture of girls wearing hijabs and backpacks

Girls in Kabul leave their school, which was ordered to close just hours after reopening on March 23. Photo: AHMAD SAHEL ARMAN/AFP via Getty Images

As countries quickly mobilize to respond to the deepening crisis in Ukraine, UN leaders are urging them to not forget about the ongoing crises in places like Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Myanmar and Yemen.

Driving the news: While the heightened focus on Ukraine is understandable and necessary, advocates say, there's growing concern dire humanitarian crises elsewhere may be neglected. 

"In a word, developing countries are getting pummeled," UN Secretary-General António Guterres said this week. "They face a cascade of crises — beyond the Ukraine war, we cannot forget COVID and the impacts of climate change — in particular, drought."   

On Wednesday, the UN raised less than a third of the $4.27 billion requested for relief efforts in what has been described as the world's worst humanitarian crisis. 

"We hoped for more, and it is a disappointment we didn't get pledges from some we thought we might hear from," UN aid chief Martin Griffiths told a pledging event co-hosted by Sweden and Switzerland.

Ahead of the event, the World Food Program warned that it had already reduced rations for 8 million people in Yemen due to funding shortfalls. "We have no choice but to take food from the hungry to feed the starving," WFP executive director David Beasley said. 

The war in Yemen, now in its eighth year, has displaced millions. 

Children walk in flood water outside tents damaged by torrential rain, at a camp for internally displaced people in the Khokha district of Yemen's war-ravaged western province of Hodeida

Children walk in flood water outside tents damaged by torrential rain in Yemen on March 16. Khaled Ziad/AFP via Getty Images

UNHCR chief Filippo Grandi traveled to Afghanistan this week to "pass the message that other situations, which also require political attention and resources should not be forgotten or neglected," per Reuters. 

Since the Taliban takeover and U.S. withdrawal from the country last August, the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan has deepened, with more than half the population experiencing acute hunger, according to the UN. 

There are about 2.6 million Afghan refugees in the world and 3.4 million people displaced within the country, the UN estimates. 

“As much as the world is rightfully preoccupied with the war in Ukraine, Afghanistan is experiencing a very grave crisis,” Grandi said at the end of a four-day visit.

n Afghan internally-displaced woman cooks in front of her tent at Shaidayee refugee camp in Injil district of Herat province on February 20, 2022. 

An internally displaced Afghan woman cooks in front of her tent in Herat province on Feb. 20. Photo: Wakil Kohsar/AFP via Getty Images

The head of the World Health Organization on Wednesday warned of the increasingly dire and "catastrophic" humanitarian crisis in Ethiopia's Tigray region, saying, "There is nowhere on Earth where the health of millions of people is more under threat."

An estimated 6 million people in Tigray have been "sealed off from the outside world" for almost 500 days due to a blockade by Ethiopian and Eritrean forces, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a press briefing. 

No food aid has been delivered since mid-December, and while the WHO was able to airlift medicines and other supplies for about 300,000 people to Tigray last month, "much more is needed," he explained.

"Just as we continue to call on Russia to make peace in Ukraine, so we continue to call on Ethiopia and Eritrea to end the blockade — the siege — and allow safe access for humanitarian supplies and workers to save lives."

People protest in Tigray in March 2021. Photo: Minasse Wondimu Hailu/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

At least 440,000 people have been displaced in Myanmar since the February 2021 military coup. An estimated 14 million people are in need of urgent humanitarian assistance, according to the UN. 

In a report out this week, the UN estimates that at least 1,600 people have been killed by security forces in the last year and thousands more detained. 

The UN found that the "military has engaged in systematic and widespread human rights violations and abuses — some of which may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity." 

"Meaningful action by the international community is urgently needed to stop yet more individuals from being stripped of their rights, their lives and their livelihoods," UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said in a statement. 

Demonstrators make the defiant three-finger salute and hold flares as they march during a protest against the military coup in Yangon, Myanmar on March 3. 

Demonstrators protest against the military coup in Yangon, Myanmar, on March 3. Photo: Myat Thu Kyaw/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Meanwhile, crises continue to plague the Sahel, other parts of Africa, Venezuela, Central America and Haiti.

Global aid groups told Axios' Stef Kight they're struggling to keep up with the world's cascading humanitarian needs. 

In Ukraine, Russia's unprovoked invasion has not only forced more than 3 million people to flee to neighboring countries and displaced millions of others, the war is causing prices of food, fuel and fertilizer to spike.

Russia and Ukraine provide about half of the world's sunflower oil and 30% of the globe's wheat, according to the UN. Ukraine alone provides more than half of the WFP's wheat supply.

The bottom line: "This war goes far beyond Ukraine," Guterres said. 

"It is also an assault on the world’s most vulnerable people and countries," he added. "All of this is hitting the poorest the hardest and planting the seeds for political instability and unrest around the globe." 

UN leaders urge the world to not forget about other global crises

While the heightened focus on Ukraine is necessary, there's growing concern dire humanitarian crises elsewhere may be neglected.

A displaced Afghan woman sits in a camp in Herat province on Jan. 16. Photo: Bilal Guler/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Humanitarianism

Russia

President Biden signed an executive order on Friday to help enable $7 billion in frozen Afghan assets to be divided between humanitarian relief for the people of Afghanistan and the families of 9/11 victims.

Why it matters: Biden has come under significant pressure to release the U.S.-held assets, which belong to Afghanistan's central bank and were frozen after the Taliban's takeover in August. Afghanistan is facing an extreme humanitarian crisis, with more than 23 million people suffering from acute hunger.

The crisis has been fueled by mass unemployment and the cessation of international financial aid, which had been the source of over 40% of Afghanistan's GDP under the previous government.

Up to a million Afghan children under the age of five could die by the end of the year due to malnutrition and lack of basic services, according to UNICEF.

Details: The executive order will require U.S. financial institutions to transfer the $7 billion in frozen Afghan assets to a consolidated account held at the New York Fed.

The families of 9/11 victims have sued the Taliban and are seeking access to the funds in federal court, meaning that any future transfer to Afghanistan for humanitarian purposes will depend on the court's decision.

Even if the court allows half of the assets to be transferred for the benefit of the Afghan people, more than $3.5 billion would remain in the U.S. and be subject to ongoing litigation from 9/11 victims' families.

What they're saying: Pressed on whether the administration felt it was acting "responsibly" in light of the catastrophic humanitarian crisis, a senior U.S. official stressed that this is an "unprecedented" situation — and that the idea the government could ignore a federal court decision is "flatly wrong."

"We have $7 billion of assets in the United States that are owned by a country where there's no government," the official said.

"I think we are acting responsibly to ensure that a portion of that money can be used to benefit the people of the country where this money was given."

"We have an independent judiciary and legal system here. We're acting responsibly to U.S. claimants who have claims that they have brought into court."

Between the lines: U.S. officials stressed that this is only the beginning of a multi-step, months-long process, which will require actions from the Treasury Department, Federal Reserve and financial institutions that would ultimately administer the funds.

The big picture: The U.S. has provided $516 million in humanitarian aid to Afghanistan since August and loosened some restrictions in December to make it easier for humanitarian groups to provide aid without running afoul of sanctions on the Taliban.

Biden to split frozen Afghan assets between possible aid and 9/11 families

Afghanistan is facing an extreme humanitarian crisis.

A child sits outside in the cold in Kabul on Dec. 27. Photo: Mohd Rasfan/AFP via Getty Images

Nbc Nightly News With Lester Holt-7 06 10 Pm - 7 07 33 Pm-2022-02-10

President Biden said Thursday in an interview with NBC News that he rejects the results of an Army investigation that reportedly outlines his administration's failure to adequately prepare for and respond to the Taliban's takeover in Afghanistan.

Why it matters: The investigation, which was first reported by the Washington Post and obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, found that U.S. military leaders' attempts to plan evacuations of embassy personnel and Afghan allies were met with resistance in the White House and State Department.

What he's saying: In a clip of his exclusive sitdown interview with Lester Holt, Biden replied in the negative when asked if his administration was in denial about the situation leading up to the fall of Afghanistan.

Pressed on the military officials' accounts in the Army report, Biden said, "I'm rejecting them."

"Look, there is no good time to get out, but if we had not gotten out, they acknowledged we would have had to put a hell of a lot more troops back in," Biden added. 

"We would have to significantly increase the number of troops and we're back in this war of attrition," he said. "And so this is a much wiser thing to do."

The full interview is set to air on Sunday.

Worth noting: Senior Biden administration officials were still discussing and assigning basic actions involved in civilian evacuation the day before Kabul fell, according to leaked notes from a White House Situation Room meeting.

The notes show just how unprepared the Biden administration was hours before the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan's capital.

Biden rejects Army report on failure to prepare for Afghanistan's fall

The report found that U.S. military leaders' attempts to plan evacuations were met with resistance in the Biden administration.

Joe Biden

President Biden has made the COVID-19 crisis and a post-Trump return to national unity and traditional democratic ideals his top priorities. From vaccinations to stimulus to schools, Biden is seeking bipartisan compromise while showing a willingness to use executive authority and bare Democratic majorities in the U.S. House and Senate to implement his policies. Republican leaders are navigating deep party divisions over if and how to move beyond former President Trump.

Politics & Policy

Qatar has reached a deal with the Taliban to resume chartered evacuations out of Kabul's airport, ending a dispute with the Afghan government that's caused a months-long pause in flights, the Gulf nation's foreign minister told Axios.

Why it matters: The agreement for two flights per week, chartered by Qatar Airways, will allow the U.S. and other countries to evacuate thousands more of their own citizens and at-risk Afghans who face dual threats of Taliban retaliation and a humanitarian crisis.

Driving the news: Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, who also serves as Qatar's deputy prime minister, spoke to Axios on Monday in a wide-ranging interview at the Qatari embassy in Washington following meetings with President Biden, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and other U.S. officials.

Talks are also under way to allow one flight per week operated by Ariana Afghan Airlines once the Taliban agrees to certain security requirements, but the deal hasn't been finalized, Al Thani said.

The news comes days after Qatar, Turkey and the Taliban announced they had agreed on "several key issues" regarding the management and operation of Hamid Karzai International Airport.

The big picture: Qatar's emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani on Monday became the first Gulf leader to visit Biden at the White House, where the president announced he is designating Qatar as one of 17 major non-NATO allies.

Qatar Airways announced during the visit that it would purchase up to 100 Boeing freighter and passenger planes in a deal valued as high as $34 billion, delivering a huge boost to Biden's efforts to revitalize U.S. manufacturing.

Qatar agreed in November to represent U.S. interests in Taliban-led Afghanistan and has enjoyed increasingly close relations with the U.S. after four years in which former President Trump favored its Saudi and Emirati rivals.

What we're watching: The United Nations said Monday it had received "credible reports" that more than 100 Afghans connected to the former U.S.-backed government had been killed since the Taliban took over in August.

The UN also warned that 23 million Afghans are at risk of starvation, with the economy collapsing under the weight of international sanctions and a crippled government bureaucracy.

The first Qatar Airways chartered flight since November took off from Kabul's airport last week carrying more than 30 Americans, according to NBC News.

What they're saying: The foreign minister declined in his interview with Axios to say whether the U.S. government's freezing of $9 billion in Afghan assets was directly causing the humanitarian crisis, but spoke urgently about the need to offer the Taliban a "blueprint" of steps that could eventually lead to an easing of sanctions.

"We believe that we need to have a collective effort among the members of the international community and concerned parties in order to put in place a blueprint for the way forward in Afghanistan," Al Thani said.

"Because it cannot remain like this forever. Otherwise the humanitarian situation over there will be much worse and the only people who will suffer are the normal Afghan people."

Exclusive: Qatar reaches deal with Taliban to resume evacuation flights

A dispute with the Taliban caused a months-long pause in recurring flights.

Taliban fighter standing next to Qatar Airways flight

Qatari security personnel (L) and Taliban fighters stand guard as passengers board a Qatar Airways plane on Sept. 9, 2021. Photo: Wakil Kohsar/AFP via Getty Images

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