DOHA: The diplomatic crisis over Qatar is shining a spotlight on a facility that few Qataris have ever visited – the enormous Al-Udeid airbase, America’s biggest in the Middle East.
A 45-minute drive southwest of the capital Doha, the base is off-limits to ordinary Qataris but central to the emirate’s foreign policy.
Home to some 10,000 US troops, it is a crucial hub for US military operations in the Middle East, especially the battle against the Islamic State group.
Which is why many were surprised to see US President Donald Trump publicly siding with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and other Gulf states after their dramatic decision this week to break off ties with Qatar.
In tweets on Tuesday Trump appeared to point the finger at Qatar as a financer of extremism, though his administration later changed gears and called for Gulf unity.
Experts say that if the administration isn’t careful, Trump risks damaging relations with one of Washington’s most important allies in the region.
“Al-Udeid is part of the strategic value that Qatar provides to the US,” says Kristian Ulrichsen, a Gulf analyst with the Baker Institute at the US-based Rice University.
“It provides conditions that the US military cannot get anywhere else in the Gulf.”
Among these advantages is allowing the US Air Force to land B-52 bombers used in air strikes on Syria.
“Al-Udeid is a massive base which is instrumental with all of (the United States’) different campaigns,” says Andreas Krieg of the Defence Studies Department at King’s College London and a former advisor to the Qatari military.
“It’s involved in operations against ISIS, Syria, Somalia,” he said, using an alternative acronym for IS.
Among those to have served at Al-Udeid since it opened in 2005 is current US Defence Secretary James Mattis in his role as head of US Central Command.
The Pentagon moved quickly to smooth over any problems caused by Trump on social media, praising Qatar’s “enduring commitment to regional security.”
But such an episode exposed discrepancies in current US policy, Ulrichsen says.
“Clearly, we have two wings in this administration – the presidential wing and the institutional wing,” he says.
Trump sided with Riyadh after his recent trip to the Middle East, says Ulrichsen, because the Saudis “read the US president like a book.”
“They knew how to reach him, he was clearly flattered” at the attention he received on his trip to Riyadh, Ulrichsen says.
Al-Udeid was established 12 years ago as Washington looked for an alternative base in the region after the Saudis asked them to leave the kingdom in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks.
At the time, the move served Saudi interests.
It also helped the United States, as Al-Udeid provided Washington with a chance to spread risk across the region.
For Qatar, the base provides security from any regional rivals and an insurance policy for US support – something it has no doubt been conscious of in recent days.
“The Americans can provide something to Qatar that nobody else can,” says Krieg.
But the pushing of Al-Udeid to centre stage could reveal another major fault line in Gulf politics – are some of Qatar’s rivals trying to replace Al-Udeid with an American airbase in their own countries?
Krieg says Al-Udeid is eyed jealously by the UAE, which would love the base to be relocated.
“The long-term plan is to get the Americans to come to the UAE,” he says.
“Saudi and Emirati pressure (to move) is something that might come up, though I think it’s unlikely in the short-term,” says Ulrichsen.
“We may well be seeing the beginning of that process, even though you just cannot up sticks.” --AFP