Convenience Big Store: The Taliban’s life of luxury in Qatar

25 August, 2021

In the headlines

As Britain scrambles to airlift 4,000 of its nationals from Kabul, former ambassador to Washington Lord Renwick says in The Daily Telegraph that every jihadist on the planet is celebrating President Biden's abandonment of Afghanistan. He quotes Barack Obama's reported statement about his then deputy: "Never underestimate Joe's ability to screw things up." Iran, which supplied weapons to the Taliban, is especially jubilant – and handling Iran will be Biden's next big test. The classic children's book The Tiger Who Came to Tea could encourage sexual violence by "reinforcing gender inequality", according to women's rights charity Zero Tolerance. "They're OK with the tiger inviting himself into a family home," says The Sun. "But not with him being male."

Comment of the day

A Taliban delegation in Doha, 2019. Karim Jaafar/AFP/Getty Images

The Taliban's life of luxury in Qatar

The tiny Middle Eastern country of Qatar "fawns over the Taliban". It's high time we stood up to this "autocratic state", says Michael Crick in Mail+. Encouraged by the US, the emir of Qatar rolled out the red carpet for the Taliban's leaders in 2013. Ever since, says one Afghan businessman in the country, they have ridden around the capital, Doha, "in big fancy cars, wearing expensive sunglasses", and enjoyed having food delivery vans arrive at their residences, providing "whatever they might need". For Qatar to facilitate peace talks is one thing, but "sucking up to one of the most murderous political groups in modern history is quite another". Its leaders are reviled in the region for their alleged links with Isis and Hezbollah, and around the world for their "abuse of foreign workers" and their ban on homosexuality.

Yet the British government is conspicuous by its silence. Perhaps that's because we are the one of the main exporters to Qatar, have an RAF base there and benefit from multibillion-pound defence contracts. Next year's football World Cup in Qatar will put the country under more scrutiny. Poorly paid foreigners have been forced to build facilities for the tournament, with Nepalese workers dying at the rate of almost one a day in 2013. The England team should not play there. And we fans should boycott the tournament and even "refuse to watch it on TV".

Let's not write America off just yet

Everyone saying America's reputation has been destroyed by the Afghanistan debacle "needs to take a deep breath", says Stephen Walt in Foreign Policy. A decision "not to continue a futile war for less than vital interests" says absolutely nothing about whether the US would fight on more existential issues such as China gaining dominance in Asia. Getting out of Afghanistan allows America to focus time and money on bigger priorities. Even a minimal presence was costing $40bn a year.

History also offers reassurances. The "humiliating defeat" in Vietnam didn't make Nato collapse or trigger America's Asian allies to abandon it. In fact it was the Soviet Union that "ended up in the dustbin of history". Britain was once derided as "perfidious Albion" because of its habit of making and breaking alliances. But allies knew this was driven by common interests rather than "blind loyalty". A similar reputation for competence and hard-headed pragmatism is the reason America is so influential globally. So who should worry about the withdrawal? Wealthy nations taking a free ride on the US military, mostly. But China should also reflect on how "America is gradually coming to its senses and less likely to shoot itself in the foot in the future".

Inside politics

When staff at the Ceilidh Place, a restaurant in the Highlands, complained about having to serve Dominic Cummings – who was on holiday in the area – the PM's former adviser offered to debate their political differences. Returning the next day, he "went head to head" with them for three hours on issues such as Brexit and Scottish independence. Jock Urquhart, the restaurant's owner, told the Ross-shire Journal that nobody changed their opinion, but by the end there was "a grudging mutual respect".

Tomorrow's world

Centuries of whaling drove the blue whale to extinction on Spain's Atlantic coast in the 1980s, says Stephen Burgen in The Guardian. But three have been spotted there in four years: they're thought to be descendants. There's "a high possibility" that climate change is a factor, as the whales' food and habitat disappears near the Equator. But these bottlenose dolphins, spotted "riding" the largest animal in the world, seem happy to see them again.

Life

Drummer Charlie Watts, who has died aged 80, was "the glue that held the Rolling Stones together", says Neil McCormick in the Telegraph. He had to be asked twice to join the band, initially preferring the security of his design job in an ad agency. Unlike his wilder bandmates, he had met Shirley, to whom he was married for 57 years, before he joined the Stones. But his low-key manner had its limits, says Keith Richards in his autobiography, Life. One night a drunk Mick Jagger called Watts, asking: "Where's my drummer?" Watts shaved, put on a Savile Row suit and cologne, then burst into Jagger's hotel room and "dished him a walloping right hook". "Don't ever call me your drummer again," he growled. "You're my f***ing singer!"

Snapshot

Staying young

Eating a hot dog shortens your life by 36 minutes. A nutritional index published in the journal Nature Food ranked 5,800 foods in the US based on minutes of "healthy" life gained or lost per serving. Beef, processed meat, pork, lamb, cheese and sugary drinks came out bottom, with nuts, fruits, vegetables and whole grains giving the most minutes back.

Snapshot answer

It's the end of the line for this locomotive, which plunged off a cliff at a quarry in Stoney Middleton, Derbyshire. The stunt was part of the UK film shoot for Mission: Impossible 7, starring Tom Cruise. The actor landed his helicopter in a Warwickshire family's large garden, says the BBC, because he was "running late" for a meeting and Coventry airport was closed. He stopped for pictures and his pilot gave the family's children a ride.