In Afghanistan, the Gulf Arab states stepped up

We hardly ever miss a chance to criticize our Gulf Arab companions — typically rightly so — for not doing sufficient to safeguard collective pursuits. The most recent instance is their meager navy contributions to the U.S.-led, counter-ISIS marketing campaign in 2014-19, which ended up delaying the territorial defeat of the terrorist group and rising the prices of battle.

However one should acknowledge that on Afghanistan, and particularly our just-completed exit from the nation, most of our Gulf Arab companions completely shined. They deserve a ton of credit score for the position they performed in our giant, difficult, and lethal evacuation — a task which was nothing in need of indispensable.

Qatar, the UAE, Bahrain, and Kuwait had been instrumental. Saudi Arabia and Oman performed essential roles on this course of too, however the particulars are much less clear. The Saudis have continued to share intelligence with Washington on terrorism threats emanating from Afghanistan and pursued quiet coordination on the evacuation with the Biden administration.

You must hand it to the Qataris, who understood that this was a second of disaster for the US, and that we desperately wanted assist. They confirmed braveness and dedication of their efforts to offer help. We must always always remember how the Qatari ambassador safely escorted People and others by the streets of Kabul, or how his colleagues evacuated a woman’s boarding faculty, an all-girls robotics group, in addition to worldwide journalists, and airlifted as many as 1,500 folks. At al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar, the ahead headquarters of U.S. Central Command, the Qataris constructed an emergency area hospital and handed out 50,000 meals a day to Afghan households ready to be evacuated by the U.S. navy. That’s to not point out the beneficiant humanitarian assist Doha has given to Afghanistan for a few years and the diplomatic position it performed in internet hosting U.S.-Taliban talks.

The Emiratis had been fast and efficient with their help, too. Amongst different efforts, they supported the evacuation of over 39,000 people from Afghanistan, along with 8,500, together with girls and kids, coming to the UAE by nationwide carriers and UAE airports. The UAE established a transit hub and processing heart in Abu Dhabi the place vacationers from Afghanistan underwent well being and safety checks earlier than heading to the US and different locations. However the UAE’s contributions to Afghanistan date again to the early post-9/11 period. The UAE was the primary Arab nation to ship troops to Afghanistan (the place they stayed for nearly 20 years) and its 250 elite forces had been the one Arab ones to have undertaken full-scale operations in assist of U.S. aims and skilled Afghan commandos in Helmand Province. 

Bahrain, house to the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet, allowed flights to make the most of the nation’s transit services amid the evacuations. Its Gulf Air nationwide service transported folks from Isa Air Base to Dulles Worldwide Airport in Virginia. U.S. Naval Forces Central Command’s newly-formed Activity Drive 58 coordinated with the Bahraini authorities to briefly facilitate the secure departure of People and evacuees from Afghanistan by the island kingdom. 

Kuwait, which hosts roughly 13,000 American troops and the ahead command of U.S. Military Central, accepted passage for five,000 Afghan evacuees on their technique to the US, and the primary flight arrived within the nation on Aug. 24. Since Aug. 16, greater than 850 People and U.S. Embassy personnel transited safely from Afghanistan to the US by way of Kuwait on 5 separate flights. 

The Gulf Arab help for the US in its ongoing rescue efforts is in depth and laudable. However there’s much more good these nations — and particularly Qatar — can do within the post-evacuation section.

Now that we’ve withdrawn fully, we’ve primarily misplaced all leverage with the Taliban. Apart from making use of brute power from over the horizon, there’s nothing else we will do to attempt to tame the Taliban or stop them from partnering as soon as once more with al-Qaeda and brutalizing Afghan society. That’s not the case with Doha, nevertheless, which by its personal communication channels and incentives can affect the habits and governance strategy of the Taliban. Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which together with Pakistan had been the solely nations on the planet to acknowledge the Taliban after they final dominated Afghanistan, are completely able to taking part in extra lively diplomatic roles in Kabul, too. 

However first, we’ve to offer our Gulf Arab companions a motive why they need to proceed to assist us in Afghanistan. Sure, your complete world advantages from a much less chaotic Afghanistan that doesn’t function a magnet for world terrorism, however stability in these faraway lands will not be a right away precedence for the Gulf Arab states. Their chief safety issues stay Iran’s political violence and sectarian drive in their very own Arab neighborhood (although the Qataris, the Omanis, and the Kuwaitis are much less fearful about Tehran’s ambitions than the Saudis, the Emiratis, and the Bahrainis). If we decide to a joint strategy to the Iran risk, they may escalate their help not simply in Afghanistan however in different elements of the world we care about too.

Bilal Y. Saab is a Senior Fellow and the Director of MEI’s Protection and Safety Program. The opinions expressed on this piece are his personal.

Photograph by Jimmie Baker/U.S. Military by way of Getty Pictures