Saudi Arabia's rulers are growing more uncomfortable with the US military presence in their country and may soon ask that it end, The Washington Post reported yesterday.
Citing a senior Saudi official, the newspaper said senior Saudi rulers believe the US has "overstayed its welcome" and its forces have become a political liability.
The official told the newspaper that Saudi Arabia would prefer a less conspicuous military cooperation once the US campaign in Afghanistan is over.
If asked to leave, the US would no longer have regular use of the Prince Sultan Air Base, where American forces have maintained a presence since the 1991 Gulf War.
Washington's relationship with Saudi rulers has been strained by the Sept. 11 hijacked airliner attacks on the US that killed about 3,100 people and were blamed by the US on Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden. Most of the 19 suspected hijackers were Saudi citizens.
The presence of US military forces in Saudi Arabia -- currently numbering about 5,000 -- has been repeatedly cited by bin Laden as a key reason for his violent opposition to Saudi rulers.
The Post said among the reasons Saudis give for deciding that it may be time for the Americans to go is that they do not want to appear to be dependent on US military support.
The American presence has become a political liability in domestic politics and in the Arab world, Saudi officials told the newspaper. The Post said the Saudi government has also become increasingly uncomfortable with a role in US efforts to contain Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
The Post said that Pentagon spokeswoman Victoria Clarke declined to answer when asked whether Saudi Arabia has told the US it will ask for an American withdrawal.
"We have a very good relationship with the Saudis," she told the newspaper on Thursday night, and "we will continue to work with them in as cooperative a fashion as possible as we go forward."
Saudi officials who spoke about a US withdrawal told The Washington Post that nothing would be done precipitously. They said Crown Prince Abdullah -- the kingdom's effective ruler given the frail health of King Fahd -- did not want to create the impression that he was responding to pressure from bin Laden.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat