The United States and Qatar held the U.S.-Qatar Military Consultative Commission (MCC) in Doha on July 20-21, 2022. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense (DASD) for the Middle East Dana Stroul led the U.S. delegation and the Qatar Chief of the International Military Cooperation Authority, Brigadier General Abdulaziz Al-Sulaiti, led the Qatari delegation.
As the senior-most bilateral defense dialogue between the U.S. and Qatari governments, the MCC reinforced the strong U.S.-Qatar bilateral defense partnership through discussions on confronting shared threats, bolstering security assistance, expanding military cooperation, and developing other strategic bilateral initiatives.
DASD Stroul and Brigadier General Abdulaziz reaffirmed the commitment to the U.S.-Qatari strategic partnership. The delegations exchanged perspectives on regional security challenges that included the current truce in Yemen, the need to maintain counterterrorism pressure on ISIS in Iraq and Syria, the Iran-proliferated network of attack unmanned aerial systems, and ways to strengthen and integrate a regional security architecture. The delegations also discussed their respective global defense priorities, with DoD briefing its approach to China as the pacing challenge.
The U.S. delegation expressed gratitude for Qatar’s continued support for hosting U.S. forces and for its essential and ongoing support to U.S. operations to resettle individuals from Afghanistan. Both sides agreed on the importance of continuing to advance the U.S.-Qatari defense partnership by supporting and leveraging the U.S. presence at Al Udeid Air Base. Leaders discussed ways to address shared threats in the region by bolstering Qatar’s military capabilities and refining security cooperation programs.