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White House reports frustrations in Yemeni relations

18 December 2010 02:39 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. U.S. security relations with Yemen have been strained by frustrations on both sides and will require patience as the two countries work to counter the al Qaeda threat there, a top White House security official said on Friday, APA reports quoting â€œReutersâ€.
John Brennan, President Barack Obama’s deputy national security adviser, contrasted the situation in Yemen with the "significant progress" he said the United States has made against al Qaeda operations in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
"Achieving our shared goal of disrupting and dismantling the al Qaeda network in Yemen will require patience," Brennan said in a speech at a think tank forum in Washington.
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, based within Saudi Arabia’s impoverished neighbor, has emerged as a major international security concern since it claimed responsibility for last December’s botched attempt to bomb a Detroit-bound aircraft.
It has since claimed credit for two U.S.-bound parcel bombs that were intercepted in Britain and Dubai in October.
"We will need to draw on not just our cooperation with Yemen and other partner nations against al Qaeda but also refine and develop intelligence relationships, security screening processes and Yemen counterterrorism forces to address effectively the threat posted by al Qaeda," Brennan said.
Meanwhile, he said U.S. actions against al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan have militants there more concerned about their own safety than with planning attacks.
Brennan acknowledged that U.S. relations with Yemen have been marked by American frustration over the slow movement of economic and political reforms, and Yemeni complaints about the snail pace of U.S. security and development assistance.
"I consider this to be a healthy tension," he said. "That is the hallmark of true friendship -- not telling the other what they want to hear, but telling the other what they need to hear."
U.S.-Yemeni relations have also been rocked by WikiLeak’s disclosure of State Department cables alleging that Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh essentially promised Washington he would lie about U.S. strikes in Yemen on al Qaeda targets.
One leaked cable quoted Saleh as telling U.S. Army General David Petraeus: "We’ll continue saying the bombs are ours, not yours." Another cable said Saleh offered unfettered access to Yemeni territory for U.S. counterterrorism operations.
The leaks occurred as Washington has been quietly ramping up its role in Yemen, acutely aware that too big a footprint could exacerbate fierce anti-American sentiment in Yemen and undermine Saleh’s already weak central government.
Without confirming the cables’ authenticity, Brennan condemned the release as "despicable criminal activity" and said he phoned Saleh a day before the release to warn the Yemeni leader and offer him Washington’s regrets.
"I told President Saleh that it was most unfortunate that these releases would be taking place and that I hoped that they would not cause problems for him, the Yemeni government or the Yemeni people," he said.
"I told President Saleh that President Obama appreciated his understanding of an unfortunate and regrettable development, and that the United States is now even more determined to pursue even stronger ties to Yemen in the future."