Source: The Gulf News.
Whatever the outcome of Gulf reconciliation based on Qatar changing its policy, it may be too late for Doha to relinquish its important regional and international playing card. Its cordial relationship with such groups and factions gave it a leverage that will be difficult to sacrifice. If any other country had these cards — like Al Jazeera and influence with militant groups — how could it be asked to drop it, after all that such leverage has achieved in positioning Qatar on the regional stage? Some had argued that these relationships could backfire — giving Libya as an example. Former Qatari premier and the architect of its foreign policy, Shaikh Hamad Bin Jasem, said in an interview with Charlie Rose of PBS last month that Qatar went into Libya with the US to get rid of Muammar Gaddafi. That implicitly meant refuting any accusation that Qatar-supported militant groups had killed the US ambassador in Benghazi. Actually, the Qatari role in the US administration’s deal with the Taliban quashes any speculation that America is not happy with Qatar’s links with militants from Afghanistan to Somalia.
Categories: Asia, Middle East