(
MENAFN- The Peninsula) The Peninsula
Doha: Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Defence Affairs H E Dr Khalid bin Mohamed Al Attiyah has said that ongoing GCC crisis can be solved by a single phone call of President Donald Trump.
In a discussion at The Heritage Foundation titled 'US-Qatari Military to Military Relations, H E the Deputy Prime Minister also said that Qatar was open for dialogue to resolve the crisis but not with pre-conditions attached.
He said that Qatar had 2040 plan for military to military relations with the United States. 'We are planning 2040 military relationship with the US in all aspects; air force, navy and land forces, he added. The people (leaders) who were acting childishly and created the Gulf crisis should stop now.
The Minister said that the Gulf crisis was hurting war on terror against ISIS and other terror outfits. He said that the crisis had hit the 'synergy needed to fully utilise resources by coalition partners in the war against terror.
The Deputy Prime Minister said that the Gulf crisis was the 'only crisis with no backdoor to diplomacy and even during cold war back doors were there for engagement. He said that the whole line of communication had been cut by the siege countries.
Al Attiyah said that Al Udeid air base was going through continuous expansion and Qatar wanted to provide all facilities to officers serving there. 'We want to make it a family-oriented place while officers can live with their families.
He said that C-17 airplanes which Qatar purchased from the US in the past had played an important role and provided an air bridge between Qatar and other brotherly countries including Kuwait, Turkey, Oman, Morocco during early days of siege for supplying food and other essential items.
He said that the US was providing training to Qatari military officers regarding the advanced equipment the country had procured from the United States.Qatar, 20 years ago, was a Europe oriented military country but now the backbone of Qatari military systems was the US defence equipment, he added.
Al Attiyah said that Qatar was preparing its citizens for its defence. He said that recently a batch of 35 Qatari pilots graduated from Air Academy Qatar and next year their number would increase to 60.
He said that Qatar's strategically located for the US in war against terror. He said that 80 percent refuelling of US fighter or other military jets involved in wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria was being done from Al Udeid base.
He said that the relations between Qatar and the US were not limited to defence sector only. He said that in energy sector, the US through ExxonMobil was a 30 percent partner of Qatar while around five prestigious American universities have their full-fledged campuses in Qatar.
He said Qatar's ministry of defence was just exploring existing defence equipment options including Russian S-400 missile system and the ministry had not announced any deal in this regard with Russia. He said that the situation in the region was not pleasant and might create a threat to smooth flow of energy as Qatar was meeting 30% of world's gas needs while another big country of GCC was also supplying petrol to the world. US Air Forces Central Command lauded contribution of Qatar in war against terror saying: 'Our Qatari partners continue to expand their role in the fight against regional extremism. The Qatar Emiri Air Force flew their first two C-17 missions in support of operations in Afghanistan, transporting more than 80,000 pounds of cargo.
A video was also shared on the twitter account which narrates that six months prior to these Afghanistan missions, the Qatar Emiri Air Forces re-committed their C-17 and C-130Js to the campaign to defeat ISIS.
'Since July, they have delivered more than one million pounds of cargo in support of the theatre operation that ensure regional security, the video footage adds.
MENAFN3001201800630000ID1096405720
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.