The US, Australia and Canada still have hostages taken by some of these same groups the Al Thani's negotiated with, and gave money to support. The Qataris have become adept at cultivating contracts and contractors in all sectors. They are still involved in ‘brokering’ talks with Hamas and the hostages they took from Israel.

Meantime, the violent extremist groups are laughing, all the way to the banks. What and how the banks, including 'respectable' commercial institutions such as HSBC, launder this blood money is yet to be seriously investigated.

It is also important to note that all GCC countries are basically theocracies. Sharia law applies and is enforced.  People have been arrested for holding hands in public.  Expats have been deported for kissing on the beach, hugging in a restaurant. Citizen vigilantes and religious ‘police’ with their cell phone cameras, are everywhere.

Doha has hosted not so secret/top secret meetings between the US State Department and the Taliban. The Taliban still has an office in Doha flying their Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan flag out front which so infuriated former President Hamid Karzai back in 2013. As the world knows, the Taliban controls Afghanistan since 2021, and harbors terrorist groups from all over the Middle East and Central Asia.

Meanwhile the US ostensibly called for an end to supporting these violent extremist/terrorist groups in 2017.

Yet the US still fulfills contracts for weapon sales to Qatar (albeit most contracts were signed before the Trump presidency).  A 12 billion USD deal-with Boeing company to benefit most-for the sale of fighter jets to Qatar does make for conflicted messages in terms of where the USA stands in terms of “supporting terror networks” and enterprises.

One of the late Senator John McCain’s legacies is that he dealt in a bi-partisan manner when it came to pushing his political cohorts to remove embargoes, sanctions, impediments to weapons deals around the world. Whether it was to former adversaries including Vietnam, Libya, Iran, eastern European countries, Saudi Arabia, conflict areas including Pakistan, Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, Ukraine, Sudan and oh yes....Qatar; Senator John McCain was there.  www.dw.com/en/us-senate-refuses-to-block-saudi-arabia-arms-sale/a-19567173

Read the entire article on my substack site. Here is the link: https://jopattimunisteri.substack.com/p/doha-connections