Qatar hosted Taliban 'at request of US government'

Qatar hosted the Taliban at the request of the US government, the special envoy on counterterrorism for Qatar"s foreign minister told Al Jazeera.

Mutlaq Al Qahtani said the Gulf country hosted the Taliban "by request by the US government" and as part of Qatar"s "open-door policy, to facilitate talks, to mediate and to bring peace". 

He added that Qatar "was facilitating the talks between the Americans, the Taliban and the government of Afghanistan".

There was no immediate comment from the US.

The Taliban opened its "political office" in Qatar in 2013.

Al Qahtani"s statement comes after US president Donald Trump accused Qatar of "historically" funding "terrorism at a very high level" - an allegation Qatar denies.

The US president has not provided any evidence for his accusation.

On Friday, Trump called on Qatar and other countries in the region "to do more [to combat terrorism] - and it faster".

The US president was weighing in on an ongoing diplomatic rift between Qatar and Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, UAE and other Arab countries.