Qatar’s role in the 9/11 attacks and its ongoing support for Islamist terrorism has long been underestimated by the West. While the hijackers were mostly Saudis, the mastermind, Khaled Sheikh Mohammed (KSM), was a Qatari government employee at the Ministry of Electricity and Water in Doha.
In 1996, when the FBI came to arrest him, he vanished within hours — after the Emir of Qatar was informed. This escape was later confirmed in U.S. intelligence and judicial documents, including KSM’s own confession.
Qatar has perfected a dual strategy: fueling Islamist terrorism while posing as a mediator. In Syria, it funded Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and its leader Abu Muhammad al-Joulani — formerly with ISIS and Al-Qaeda — who remains under a $10 million U.S. bounty. In Gaza, Qatar poured money into Hamas for years, strengthening the terror group militarily and politically, paving the way to the October 7 massacre. Yet once again, Qatar is presented as a “mediator” in hostage negotiations — a familiar pattern seen in Afghanistan and Egypt.
Despite Qatar’s proven record of supporting radical Islam and betraying U.S. interests, Washington continues to treat it as an ally. This includes hosting the massive U.S. CENTCOM base in Doha, which effectively guarantees the ruling Al-Thani family’s survival. Were America to even hint at moving the base to a real ally like Saudi Arabia or the UAE, the Qataris would immediately change course.