Saudi Arabia's Prince Turki Al Faisal, who previously served as the kingdom’s ambassador to the US, publicly questioned President Joe Biden’s commitment to the Gulf states on Tuesday, which led to a soft rebuttal from the State Department’s number two diplomat for the Middle East.
Prince Turki, who currently serves as the head of the King Faisal Centre for Research and Islamic Studies, cited Mr Biden’s withdrawal from Afghanistan during remarks at the Atlantic Council and warned him against taking steps that would scale back US relations with the Gulf Co-operation Council.
“The US-GCC countries’ relationship is imperative to peace and stability in the region,” Prince Turki said.
“I call on Mr Biden to weigh carefully any steps he takes that impact this historical bond and rather build on it to have a new security structure for the region.”
Joey Hood, the deputy assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, delivered remarks immediately after Prince Turki, highlighting the Biden administration’s continued support of its Gulf security partners while calling for a more “expansive view” of what qualifies as a threat.
“I must emphasise, simply because there’s been so much disinformation about it recently, that our security partnerships will endure,” Mr Hood said.
“We’ve had a regular military presence in the region for over 70 years. And that fundamental reality will not change.
“As the threats and conditions change, we adapt. So, we have small numbers of capable forces throughout the region now training and advising our partners to become more capable and self-sufficient.”
Mr Biden said in February that he was ending US support for offensive Saudi operations against Yemen’s Houthi rebels.
This included the suspension of a major arms sale to Saudi Arabia, negotiated under former president Donald Trump, which involved precision-guided munitions.
And while Mr Biden has begun to remove US troops and anti-missile batteries that Mr Trump had stationed in Saudi Arabia, he has also pledged to continue supporting the Saudi military's defensive operations.
Prince Turki did not mention the Biden administration’s scaled-back military support for the kingdom but instead highlighted the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan and heightened tension between American troops and Iran-backed militias in Iraq.
“This failed experience in Afghanistan and the other, I would say, semi-failed experience in Iraq are responsible for the perceived failure or defeat … of a great power, the United States, and the greatest military alliance, Nato, in sustaining a regime and project of their creation,” he said.
“Allies and friends of the United States, and the west in general, will be rethinking and reconsidering their future away from the western-dominant paradigm that dominated the geopolitics of the region during the last few decades.”
Mr Hood criticised China in his remarks, particularly in regards to civil liberties, and also stressed the need to strengthen state institutions and improve governance throughout the region.
“Countries can’t defeat Covid-19 or [ISIS] if they’re too weak, unstable and inward-looking due to their failures to build legitimate institutions capable of delivering the good and effective governance that people demand," Mr Hood said.
“Nor will they be prepared to tackle the very real and imminent threats posed by climate change."
Prince Turki’s and Mr Hood’s remarks came after Mr Biden’s Iran envoy, Robert Malley, returned from a visit to the Gulf last week that included stops in Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
Much of Mr Malley’s trip centred on discussing contingency plans with US security partners should the US and Iran fail to come to an agreement that would revive the nuclear deal.
Mr Malley told reporters last week that the Gulf states he visited indicated they would be open to deepening economic ties with Iran if US sanctions were lifted under a revived nuclear deal.
However, he also hinted that the US would continue to pursue nuclear diplomacy with Iran even if Tehran makes technological advancements to the point where the current deal unravels.
The five pillars of Islam
Company: Instabug
Founded: 2013
Based: Egypt, Cairo
Sector: IT
Employees: 100
Stage: Series A
Investors: Flat6Labs, Accel, Y Combinator and angel investors
Gothia Cup 2025
4,872 matches
1,942 teams
116 pitches
76 nations
26 UAE teams
15 Lebanese teams
2 Kuwaiti teams
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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PAKISTAN SQUAD
Abid Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Shan Masood, Azhar Ali (test captain), Babar Azam (T20 captain), Asad Shafiq, Fawad Alam, Haider Ali, Iftikhar Ahmad, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Hafeez, Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Sarfaraz Ahmed (wicketkeeper), Faheem Ashraf, Haris Rauf, Imran Khan, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Hasnain, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Afridi, Sohail Khan, Usman Shinwari, Wahab Riaz, Imad Wasim, Kashif Bhatti, Shadab Khan and Yasir Shah.
The studios taking part (so far)
- Punch
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RESULTS
5pm: Rated Conditions (PA) Dh85,000 (Turf) 1,600m
Winner: AF Mouthirah, Tadhg O’Shea (jockey), Ernst Oertel (trainer)
5.30pm: Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 1,400m
Winner: AF Alajaj, Tadhg O’Shea, Ernst Oertel
6pm: Wathba Stallions Cup Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 (T) 1,400m
Winner: Hawafez, Connor Beasley, Abubakar Daud
6.30pm: Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 2,200m
Winner: Tair, Fabrice Veron, Eric Lemartinel
7pm: Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 2,200m
Winner: Wakeel W’Rsan, Richard Mullen, Jaci Wickham
7.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh100,000 (T) 2,400m
Winner: Son Of Normandy, Fernando Jara, Ahmad bin Harmash
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
The specs: 2018 Nissan 370Z Nismo
The specs: 2018 Nissan 370Z Nismo
Price, base / as tested: Dh182,178
Engine: 3.7-litre V6
Power: 350hp @ 7,400rpm
Torque: 374Nm @ 5,200rpm
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Fuel consumption, combined: 10.5L / 100km
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