Qatar has to pay for supporting extremism: U.S. ambassador

CAIRO – 14 September 2017: Bill Richardson, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said on Thursday during the Qatar Security and Stability conference that Qatari policies embodied in supporting extremism and Iran cause destabilization in the region.

Richardson described Qatari policies as contradicting and characterized by double-standards. “The status of human rights in Qatar raises concerns. Doha has to pay for its support for extremism,” the ambassador said.

The Qatar global security and stability conference organized by exiled Qataris pressing for reform in the country kicked off in London Thursday, and comes as the diplomatic crisis in the Gulf enters its fourth month.

Lord Paddy Ashdown, Ambassador Bill Richardson, Iain Duncan Smith, John Simpson, Jamie Rubin, General Chuck Wald, Brigadier General Shlomo Brom, Dov Zakheim and MP Daniel Kawczynski joined leading Middle East commentators and members of the Qatari opposition to debate the past, present and likely future of Qatar.

The conference, organized in great secrecy due to of concerns over Qatari government’s and its supporters’ interference, has attracted a line-up of world renowned speakers, including the former U.S. Ambassador to the UN, an ex-British Cabinet Minister, advisors to the Israeli and U.S. governments and leading media and strategic commentators.

The five following topics will be discussed in the conference:

• Political Islam and terrorist groups;

• Qatar and Iran’s foreign policy, a source of regional instability;

• Democracy, human rights and a quest for global prestige;

• Al-Jazeera – free press or voice of terror;

• Qatar’s economic and geopolitical influence.

The organizers of the conference are also publishing further exclusive research papers into the situation within Qatar.