Trump set to visit US troops in Qatar as he rejects America’s ‘interventionist’ past

President Donald Trump on Thursday will visit a US installation at the center of American involvement in the Middle East today as he uses his four-day visit to Gulf states to reject the “interventionism” of America’s past in the region.

Trump plans to address troops at Qatar’s al-Udeid Air Base, which was a major staging ground during the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and supported the recent US air campaign against Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis. The president has held up Gulf nations like Saudi Arabia and Qatar as models for economic development in a region plagued by conflict as he works to entice Iran to come to terms with his administration on a deal to curb its nuclear program.

Trump has also used his trip to announce plans to recognize the government of Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa and to ease sanctions on the war-torn country. The US has deployed more than 1,000 troops in Syria for years to suppress a return of the Islamic State group.

Trump heaped praise on al-Sharaa — who was tied to al-Qaeda and joined insurgents battling US forces in Iraq before entering the Syrian civil war — after the two met in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday. The president called al-Sharaa a “young, attractive guy. Tough guy. Strong past. Very strong past. Fighter.”

It was a stark contrast from earlier years, when Al-Sharaa was imprisoned by US troops in Iraq. Until December, there was a $10 million US bounty for his arrest.