Hours before my flight landed in Qatar, the U.S. and the Taliban met in the capital city of Doha to sign a historic (although deeply flawed) agreement to end the War in Afghanistan. With this extraordinary event as the backdrop to my five-day study abroad trip to the small Gulf nation, I knew the experience would be once in a lifetime.
I traveled to Qatar as part of a cultural and educational exchange supported by the National Council on U.S. Arab Relations and the Qatari Embassy in D.C. We crisscrossed Doha on an immersive tour of Qatar’s cultural, military, and government institutions, expertly guided by Abdulaziz Abdulla Al Thani, the Head of Public Diplomacy at the Qatari Embassy. Qatar is a state on the verge of global prominence thanks to the upcoming World Cup in Doha, balancing striking modernity and deep-seated traditions.
The skyline of Doha's West Bay, an area of the city home to Qatar's tallest and most modern buildings.
With the U.S.-Taliban deal fresh in everyone’s minds, Qatar’s role as a mediator was emphasized throughout the trip. At meetings with the Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, I learned that Qatar is proud of its friends-with-everyone approach and seeks to play a mediating role even in conflicts in which it is not directly involved. The U.S.-Taliban deal was not the first instance of Qatar facilitating peace and compromise. In 2008 Doha hosted negotiations to end a political crisis in Lebanon that had spanned over a year; just before that, Qatar had facilitated talks between the Yemeni government and the Houthi rebels. This behavior has raised Qatar’s international profile and become a hallmark of its foreign policy. I also learned that Qatar sees itself as being in a perfect position to mediate recent U.S.-Iran tensions.
Just weeks before my trip, the U.S. had come perilously close to an armed conflict with Iran. Had such a conflict come to fruition, the U.S. would likely have involved their largest military base in the Middle East: Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar. Qatar has a unique relationship with Iran, having defied their Gulf neighbors by maintaining a relationship with the Islamic Republic at the cost of relations with the rest of the Gulf Cooperation Council. With this in mind, our delegation had an abundance of questions about the past, present, and future, of Qatari-Iranian relations.
At the briefing at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, I had an opportunity to ask how Qatar balanced their Iranian relations with their close military relationship with the U.S., an avowed enemy of Iran. The answer I received was frank and honest: yes, Qatar maintains relations with a virulently anti-American state, but it’s not as simple as that. The Ministry representative explained that, at its core, the Qatari-Iranian relationship is one of necessity and shared geostrategic interests. Qatar and Iran are less than 200 miles apart across the Persian Gulf and share a massive natural gas field. Given their proximity and shared energy interests, some kind of relationship is necessary. Despite this, the representative also highlighted major points on which the two countries disagree, such as in Syria where Qatar does not support Bashar al-Assad.
Outside of all the strategic thinking and foreign policy planning, I was also able to experience Qatar’s beautiful and vibrant culture. The National Museum of Qatar was the most striking exhibit of rich cultural history that I’d ever experienced, and the Museum of Islamic Art elegantly displayed Qatar’s artistic influences spanning thousands of years. I was delighted to put my rudimentary Arabic skills to work while shopping at the Souq Waqif, and the shopkeeper I spoke to was equally delighted to meet young Americans studying Arabic and visiting the Gulf. Most of all, every person I met was kind and welcoming, excited to share their country and interested to hear about mine.
The Museum of Islamic Art in Doha. The museum was designed by legendary architect I. M. Pei and houses Islamic art from three continents over 1,400 years.
Qatar is not without flaws, as no country is. Alongside brilliant development for the 2022 World Cup come serious and valid concerns about labor conditions. As the coronavirus ravages the Middle East, the inequalities between Qatar’s small native population and its impoverished foreign worker majority have become even more evident. However, it is possible to appreciate Qatar’s innovation and growing prominence on the world stage while still acknowledging where the nation has room to improve.
On our last drive out of Doha to the airport, I caught a final glimpse of the city’s skyline, bathed in early morning sunlight. Cranes and scaffolding clung to new buildings reaching towards the sky, and it spoke to an interesting truth about the country I was leaving: just like its capital’s skyline, Qatar is always changing. I can’t wait to see what happens next.
Julia Broomer is a sophomore majoring in International Relations and minoring in Arabic at the George Washington University.