Biden names Qatar major non-NATO ally as energy crisis looms

Biden, according to the White House, told Tamim in a private phone call last year that the Afghanistan evacuation “would not have been possible without the early support from Qatar to facilitate the transfer of thousands of people daily.”

“Many countries have stepped up to help the evacuation and relocation efforts in Afghanistan, but no country has done more than Qatar,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said during a September visit to Doha. Blinken spoke last week with Qatari Foreign Affairs Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani about the Russian troop buildup, according to the State Department.

The relationship is improved after difficulties with President Donald Trump. The Republican supported a blockade launched in 2017 against Qatar by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt.

Trump also publicly accused Qatar of being “a very high level” funder of terrorism but later reversed his position on the blockade. Saudi Arabia and other neighbors have accused Qatar of tolerating or even encouraging support for extremist groups, including al-Qaida’s Syria branch, the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas.

The White House is anticipating that the emir may request in his conversations with administration officials that Biden, a Democrat, approve a more than $500 million sale of MQ-9 Reaper drones. The request has been languishing since 2020, when Trump was still in office. The Qatari leader is also to meet separately with Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and to discuss arms sales and other military issues with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.