Military In Qatar - Construction of the $60 million CAOC facility, which the Air Force says “resembles the set of a futuristic movie,” was completed in 2003. At that time the US moved the CAOC from Saudi Arabia’s Prince Sultan Air Base, where since 1997 it had overseen operations during the war in Iraq.
The U.S. has closed sprawling bases in Qatar that once stored warehouses full of weaponry and transferred the remaining supplies to Jordan, in a move that analysts say positions Washington to deal better with Iran and reflects the military’s changing priorities in the region.
Military In Qatar
Moving U.S. troops to Jordan decreases the threat of rocket attacks in the Gulf region from Iranian-backed militias. The threat of missile strikes against U.S. troops like last year’s attack on al Asad Air Base, which left more than 100 injured, is an important tool in Tehran’s negotiating strategy, Bokhari said.
Closing the bases and moving the mission to Jordan could benefit the U.S. in potential disputes with Iran, said Kamran Bokhari, a national security and policy expert focusing on the region at the Washington-based Center for Global Policy.
The 379th Air Expedition Wing is “the largest, most diverse expeditionary wing” in the Air Force, according to the wing’s website. It has more than 100 aircraft currently at the Qatar base, including combat planes like the B-1 bomber as well as planes for airlift, refueling and intelligence, the website says.
Qatar’s and America’s ties were strengthened earlier this year when US President Joe Biden designated Qatar as a major non-nato ally (MNNA). Despite this, there have been no updates on Qatar’s requests to purchase four MQ-9b Predator drones from the US.
“We are aware of and as concerned as anybody about what had been some terrible sanitation conditions at Qatar that were facilitated by the sheer numbers and the speed with which those numbers got there,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters during a news briefing Tuesday.
During the 2017 GCC crisis, Qatar signed a $6.2 billion contract with US plane maker Boeing to manufacture 36 F-15 fighter jets for its armed forces. Qatar received the first batch of the jets in August last year.
The Pentagon acknowledged Tuesday that there had been “some terrible conditions” at the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar where the US military has temporarily stationed thousands of evacuees from Afghanistan as they relocate people leaving the country.
“We’ll be the first to admit that conditions at Al Udeid could have been better. They are improving now,” he said. “I’m not going to stand up here and tell you that they’re perfect, because they’re not.”
According to the report, Qatar’s military expenditure last year was 434% higher than what it was in 2010, the last time such data was released by the Gulf state. Qatar had spent 4.8% of its gross domestic product (GDP) on the military.
The Olympic-sized swimming pool and Chili's restaurant were popular spots for those resting and recuperating at Camp As Sayliyah, Qatar in 2004. The installation, known among many service members for its Rest and Recuperation Pass Program, which gave some 200,000 deployed troops a four-day vacation, was shuttered in June 2021. (Stars and Stripes)
The Biden administration has signaled a desire to negotiate a deal with Iran to ensure the country does not develop nuclear weapons. The Trump administration pulled out of a multilateral deal signed in 2015 with Iran, calling the limits on Tehran inadequate.
“The decrease came amid reports that Saudi Arabia had begun to withdraw its military forces from Yemen, but the Saudi Arabian Government rejected the claims and stated that the troops were simply being redeployed,” said SIPRI.
Last year, a separate SIPRI report on arms sales found that Qatar’s imports saw a 361% increase from 2016 to 2020. The institute suggested the increase of arms transactions was possibly linked to heightened regional tensions at the time of the 2017 GCC crisis.
The flag on the fourth hole at the now-closed Camp As Sayliyah-Main, Qatar, miniature golf course waves in the wind on June 14, 2021. The U.S. Army shuttered CAS-Main and its two other installations in Qatar, Camp As Sayliyah-South and Falcon 78. (Neil W. McCabe/U.S. Army)
The US is in the midst of what President Joe Biden has called “one of the largest, most difficult airlifts in history,” and trying to ramp up flights out of Afghanistan ahead of a fast-approaching August 31 deadline for US troops to be out of the country. The Al Udeid base is home to the largest US base in the Middle East.
Camp As Sayliyah was known among many service members for its Rest and Recuperation Pass Program, which gave some 200,000 deployed troops a four-day vacation. The program ran from 2002 to 2011 and offered travelers up to two glasses of beer or wine a day, along with golf and beach trips.
According to a 2014 congressional research paper by Middle Eastern specialist, Christopher M. Blanchard, Qatar invested over $1 billion to construct the air base during the 1990s, despite having only a small air force of its own at the time. This in turn, “facilitated gradually deeper cooperation with US military forces.”
The Arab countries with the most military spending include Saudi Arabia at $55.6 billion, Kuwait at $9 billion and Oman at an estimated $5.8 billion. The research noted that Saudi Arabia fell from fourth-largest spender in 2020 to the eighth place last year.
In another notable development, Iran’s military budget increased for the first time in four years to $24.6 billion. Tehran’s funding for its para-military, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), grew by 14% in comparison with 2020.
The closure of the three bases comes as the U.S. shifts resources throughout the CENTCOM area of responsibility. This includes the U.S. drawdown from Afghanistan after 20 years there, as well as the withdrawal of eight Patriot antimissile batteries from Iraq, Kuwait, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
In 2016, the base was used as staging ground to fly B-52 airstrikes against ISIS targets in Iraq and Syria. Early in the Afghanistan campaign, F-16 fighters and E-8C Joint Stars reconnaissance planes that monitor ground units were based there, along with refueling tankers.
The US accounted for 38% of the global military spending, with its expenditure totaling $801 billion in 2021. The latest figures also show a 1.4 % drop from 2020. Last year, the US ended its 20-year invasion of Afghanistan, where it spent at least $2 trillion.
A sign of the breadth and urgency of the mission, the Pentagon activated commercial airlines to help with the evacuation mission by flying people out of Qatar and other centers, to the US or a third country.
Apart from the US, Qatar had signed a deal with France in 2017 to purchase 12 French-built Rafale fighter jets under $1.3 billion order. For years, France has been providing Qatar’s navy with electronic support for its warships through French aerospace company, Thales.
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