Blinken, Austin to make visit to the Gulf region this week

Top U.S. national security officials will see how the failed war in Afghanistan may be reshaping America’s relationships in the Middle East as they meet with key allies in the Persian Gulf and Europe this week.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin are traveling to the Gulf separately, leaving Sunday. They will talk with leaders who are central to U.S. efforts to prevent a resurgence of extremist threats in Afghanistan, some of whom were partners in the 20year fight against the Taliban.

Together, the Austin and Blinken trips are meant to reassure Gulf allies that President Joe Biden’s decision to end the U.S. war in Afghanistan in order to focus more on other security challenges like China and Russia does not foretell an abandonment of U.S. partners in the Middle East. The U.S. military has had a presence in the Gulf for decades, including the Navy’s 5th Fleet headquarters in Bahrain. Biden has not suggested ending that presence, but he — like the Trump administration before him — has called China the No. 1 security priority, along with strategic challenges from Russia.

Blinken travels to Qatar and will also stop in Germany to see Afghan evacuees at Ramstein air base who are awaiting clearance to travel to the United States. While there he will join a virtual meeting with counterparts from 20 nations on the way ahead in Afghanistan.

Austin plans to start his trip by thanking the leaders of Qatar for their cooperation during the Kabul airlift that helped clear an initially clogged pipeline of desperate evacuees. In addition to permitting the use of al-Udeid air base for U.S. processing of evacuees, Qatar agreed to host the American diplomatic mission that withdrew from Kabul at war’s end. The Qataris also have offered a hand to help reopen the Kabul airport in cooperation with the Taliban.