Later that evening, HE Lolwah Rashid Mohammed Al Khater said, "Many thanks to the Indian community and the Embassy in Qatar, the gifts you distributed made Afghan children smile again."
Qatar has been playing a crucial role in Afghanistan following last month's withdrawal of US forces, helping evacuate thousands of foreigners and Afghans, engaging the new Taliban rulers and supporting operations at Kabul airport.Afghanistan plunged into crisis last month after Kabul fell to the Taliban and the democratically elected government of former president Ashraf Ghani collapsed.After the swift Taliban takeover of Kabul on August 15, the US looked to Qatar to help with the evacuation of tens of thousands of people.Since the US pullout, Qatar Airways planes have made several trips to Kabul, flying in aid and Doha's representatives and ferrying out foreign passport holders.In the end, nearly 40 percent of all evacuees were moved out via Qatar. International media outlets also asked Qatar for help with their staff evacuations.Towards the end of August, the US said that 113,500 people had been evacuated from Afghanistan since August 14. Qatar says a little more than 43,000 transited through the country.The United States pulled its final troops out of Afghanistan on August 30, ending its longest war just ahead of the anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks that prompted its invasion.