Qatar has been mediating between the Taliban and the US, a role that intensified after the former’s takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021.

Qatar has announced the success of its mediation efforts to release an Austrian citizen detained in Afghanistan, Herbert Fritz, on Sunday.

Fritz landed at the Doha International Airport on a Qatar Emiri Air Force jet and was welcomed by Austrian diplomats, including Peter Launsky-Tieffenthal, Special Advisor of the Austrian Chancellor.

Fritz was detained by authorities in Afghanistan last year, aged 84 years old at the time.

Speaking to the press in Doha at the tarmac, Fritz expressed his gratitude for Qatar’s efforts in securing his release.

“I thank Qatar and I have loved Qatar since 2012 when it helped in Gaza,” Fritz said.

In a separate statement to Doha’s state news agency (QNA), Qatar’s Minister of State at the Foreign Ministry, Mohammed bin Abdulaziz Al-Khulaifi, thanked the caretaker Afghan government, in reference to the Taliban administration, for their response to Doha’s mediation efforts.

He also said that Doha would continue its efforts in the coming period to resolve conflicts through dialogue.

Qatar has been mediating between the Taliban and the US, a role that intensified after the former’s takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021.

At the time, Doha had played a pivotal role by evacuating more than 100,000 Afghans and foreigners from the country. The mass evacuations have been described as history’s largest airlift of people. 

Qatar had paved the way for dialogue when it first opened the Taliban’s office on its lands in 2013 at the request of the U.S.

The Gulf state has a record of securing numerous prisoner releases in Afghanistan. In 2022, Qatar assisted in the release of US aid worker Safi Rauf and his brother, Anees Khalil, a British citizen, following months in the Taliban’s custody.