SAUDI ARABIA: The United States confirmed yesterday that it was withdrawing its air force from Saudi Arabia by mutual agreement as part of a global shift in US forces.
On Monday, it moved its key air operations centre for the Gulf from Saudi Arabia to neighbouring Qatar, and the rest of the US forces here are expected to be out by mid-summer.
The withdrawal ends an often contentious 12-year-old US military presence in Saudi Arabia and marks the most dramatic in a set of sweeping changes in US force posture from Germany to South Korea in the wake of the war in Iraq.
"By mutual agreement the aircraft that have been involved will be able to leave," the US defence secretary, Mr Donald Rumsfeld, told a press conference yesterday with Saudi Defence Minister Prince Sultan.
Both men put a positive spin on the evacuation, stressing there were no differences, despite repeated US reports of strained ties in the aftermath of the September 11th suicide hijackings, in which 15 Saudis led by Osama bin Laden played a major role.
"They will leave with us grateful for the co-operation and support Saudi Arabia has provided," Mr Rumsfeld said.
"Over time we anticipate our forces in the region will be reduced. Needless to say that will be done in a manner I hope that will reflect the close co-operation and friendship between our countries.
"We discussed the changes that have taken place in the region. It is now a safer region because of the change of regime in Iraq.
"With the end of Operation Southern Watch and the successful liberation of the Iraqi people, we have had discussions about our ability to rearrange our forces in this part of the world," Mr Rumsfeld added.
Prince Sultan said that following the end of aerial monitoring of Iraq under Operation Southern Watch, "there's no need for them to be here".
"This does not mean we have requested them to move, and it does not mean our friendship has been \ affected.
"The co-operation between our two countries was going on even before Desert Storm and it will continue even after the end of the war in Iraq."
He said Saudi Arabia, which provided a launch-pad for coalition forces during Operation Desert Storm to oust Iraq from Kuwait in 1991, was looking to the US now for military training and technology.
Prince Sultan said he did not believe Iran looked to Iraq with any animosity and hoped that Iraq would soon return to Arab ranks after Saddam had "divided the Arab world and the Gulf region".
Riyadh refused to take part in the war on Iraq without full UN backing, although the command centre at the Prince Sultan Air Base coordinated the air war against Baghdad.
Rear Admiral David Nichols, deputy commander of the air operation centre, told reporters that US air operations would be shut down totally at Prince Sultan by the end of the summer.
"We already have switched" the air operations centre from Prince Sultan to Al-Udeid in Qatar, he added.
The US Air Force has been using the giant Al-Udeid facility south of Doha to run air operations in Afghanistan and the Horn of Africa.