WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday that the Persian Gulf nation of Qatar has agreed to represent American interests in Afghanistan following the closure of the U.S. 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.