Regardless of the value of such Qatari assistance, the core support it provides to designated terror groups must stop.
By Jim Hanson, Middle East Forum
US President Donald Trump’s first foreign trip will be to the Middle East in mid-May. He will visit Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar. The president has emphasized increasing business relations and both the Saudis and Emiratis have pledged significant investments in the United States. The Qataris have historically made major investments and also spend large amounts on lobbying and influence operations.
Trump likely will ask the Qataris to increase their business investments as he seeks to improve US-Qatari relations overall. There are advantages to bringing Qatar closer into the fold, but there are areas where Trump should condition the quality of relations on improvements in Qatar’s behavior.
Trump should condition the US-Qatar alliance on Doha making several reforms:
Qatar has deep ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and its many offshoots, including Hamas.
First, Trump should demand that Qatar end its longstanding support for terrorism. Doha has hosted senior leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood and its many offshoots, including Hamas. Qatar also maintains cordial relations with Taliban and even Al Qaeda affiliates. Normally, these relationships would disqualify any country from partnership with the US, but Qataris have played both sides masterfully.
Qatar has used its connections to these organizations to provide the US with intelligence on terror groups it does not support. This, in turn, has led to the capture or killing of multiple high-value targets. The Central Intelligence Agency gave the head of Qatari State Security Agency Abdullah bin Mohammed Al-Khulaifi recognition for this assistance last year, declaring, “Another main reason for the award was the cooperation between the CIA and Qatari intelligence in counterterrorism and the ability of the Qatari State Security Agency to prevent and foil threats and attacks in the Middle East.”
Qatar also has served as an intermediary to communicate with these groups. The Qataris, for example, reportedly delivered the ransom to the Haqqani network when former president Barack Obama arranged the return of Bowe Bergdahl.
Qatar has built and provided major support to CENTCOM with the Al Udeid Air Base being the largest US facility in the region.
Regardless of the value of such Qatari assistance, the core support it provides to designated terror groups must stop.
If Doha wants better relations with the US, Trump must predicate any deal on an end to Qatari support for terrorism.
A second concern is the growing economic cooperation with Iran that helps Tehran evade sanctions. Aside from the damage this does to Trump’s maximum pressure campaign that seeks to push the Iranians to negotiate and avoid war, Qatar should not be so tightly aligned with Iran and still considered a US ally. It is time for Qatar to pick a side.
There are also legitimate concerns with the volume of money the Qataris spread around in the US to buy influence; for example, Qatar has dispensed more than $6 billion since 2007 in lobbying the US government and bestowing largesse to top US universities. Every country is free to do what it wishes with their money, within legal boundaries, but the sheer amount of money coming from Qatar warrants scrutiny.
Trump also might raise the issue of Al Jazeera, the Qatari-controlled media outlet. Al Jazeera has multiple English channels that too often hide how anti-American the company’s Arabic programs are. In 2020, the US Justice Department ordered the Al Jazeera online service to comply with the Foreign Agents Registration Act, an action the company still evades.
Trump has shown the ability to bring countries to the table to negotiate on thorny issues. If he succeeds in using those skills to sway the Qataris from their wayward path, it could be an invaluable step to bring peace and prosperity to the region.