On Sunday, August 16, 2020, the Afghan Institute for Strategic Studies (AISS) organized webinar on "Understanding Qatar's Foreign Policy”. This webinar was accompanied by Hussain Ehsani, expert on Middle East Affairs/investigative journalist, Camelia Entekhabifard, editor in chief of the Independent Persian, and Abdul Matin Amin, expert on Middle East Affairs. The event was moderated by Ferdaws Kawish, journalist.
In his speech, Hussein Ehsani referred to Qatar's foreign policy and said that the Arab Spring has caused the country to redefine its regional identity and, as a small country, to pursue great ambitions in its foreign policy discussions. He said Qatar has taken a balance of power with other countries to compensate for its internal constraints. Referring to the repeated defeats that Qatar has had in hosting other talks, he said that there are two scenarios in this regard, one of which is to bring the fundamentalist forces to power.
Camelia Entekhabifard said that peace talks between the United States and the Taliban has not had yielded tangible results yet; both countries were in a hurry, and one main reason was the US presidential election approaching, and Qatar being isolated by the Gulf States. According to Entekhabifard, the ongoing peace talks between the Afghan government and Taliban will not yield desirable outcomes either, since they did not have any role in previous talks between the Afghan people and government and foreign actors such as Iran, China and Russia, who play key roles in Afghanistan. According to her, the Afghan peace talks should be hosted by a country that is in every way suitable and acceptable to all parties for such an important process, which Qatar lacks.
Abdul Matin Amin said Afghanistan was in a critical situation and needed to strike a balance between countries in the region. This balance could be in hosting countries for peace talks as well as involving countries in the region in the Afghan peace process. According to Amin, the Afghan media should be given the opportunity to cover the negotiation process; otherwise it will face widespread opposition and reactions from the Afghan people. He added that in a country where peace talks are to take place, the media must be present. According to Amin, there are various reasons why Qatar insists on hosting the peace talks, one of which could be strengthening its relations with the United States.