President Donald Trump on Thursday will visit a US installation at the center of American involvement in the Middle East as he uses his four-day visit to Gulf states to reject the “interventionism” of America’s past in the region.
Trump plans to address troops at Qatar’s Al-Udeid Air Base, which was a major staging ground during the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and supported the recent US air campaign against Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis, reports AP.
The Qatari base houses some 8,000 US troops, down from about 10,000 at the height of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
“You’re buying a lot of that equipment actually,” Trump said Wednesday when he and Sheikh Tamim signed a series of bilateral and business agreements between the two countries. “And I think we’re going to see some of it in action tomorrow at the — we won’t call it an air fair, but its going to be sort of an air fair. We’re going to be showing a display that’s going to be incredible. They have the latest and the greatest of our planes and just about everything else.”
Among the agreements the two leaders signed on Wednesday was a document clearing the way for Qatar to purchase American-made MQ-9B drones — the export version of the Reaper.
Meanwhile, defense insiders says, the State Department approved of the potential sale of eight MQ-9B UAVs to Qatar in late March in a deal that would also include hundreds of bombs, scores of missiles, several radars, radios, satellite communication ground systems and related equipment, along with US technical support.
Earlier this week, Trump has been criticised by critics and supporters alike for accepting the gift of luxury Boeing 747-8 to the US Department of Defence from the Qatari royal family. The plane is estimated to be worth $400m. Many have described Trump’s decision as accepting a “bribe” from the government of Qatar.
Trump said he and the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, would also see a demonstration of American air capability, as the US leader looks to boost defense exports to the region.