On the eve of a summit meeting here between the United States and Arab nations of the Persian Gulf to deepen security ties, one of those countries, the United Arab Emirates, announced that it had shut down an American-financed organization that promotes democracy, State Department officials said.
The United Arab Emirates announced the shutdown on Friday of the office of the National Democratic Institute, State Department officials said, a day before the meeting on Saturday attended by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.
The country, which has good relations with the United States, did not explain the action, which seemed especially provocative with Mrs. Clinton in the region.
Egypt’s recent prosecution of the group, along with the International Republican Institute and Freedom House, prompted a fierce debate in Washington over whether to continue providing military assistance to the Egyptian military. The Obama administration eventually allowed $1.3 billion in arms sales to move ahead, but only after Egypt allowed American employees of the groups to leave the country.
The State Department defended the National Democratic Institute’s work in the United Arab Emirates, but provided no detail about what led to the closing of the offices of the group, which is closely affiliated with Congress.
A German organization also targeted in Egypt, the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, recently closed its office in the U.A.E. at the demand of the emirates’ foreign ministry.
The closing of democracy-building organizations cast a shadow on the meeting here Saturday, which was intended to inaugurate a strategic multilateral alliance with the nations in the Gulf Cooperation Council. In addition to the emirates, the group includes Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman.
Mrs. Clinton said the alliance would create “opportunities to pursue multilateral cooperation on shared challenges, including terrorism, nuclear proliferation and piracy.” As with Egypt, though, she found herself defending American nongovernmental organizations in countries that are important to the United States on security matters.
The State Department said the closing of the institute’s office in the Emirates was especially troubling because it coordinated the group’s efforts in the region.
When pressed during a news conference about the closing, Mrs. Clinton said “we very much regret it” and said she had brought it up with the country’s foreign minister, Abdullah bin Zayed bin Sultan al Nahyan, at the conference.
“I expect our discussion on this issue to continue,” she said.
She added that the administration remained committed to the organization’s work in the region, but also said the overarching interest was to cooperate, particularly in the areas of security and antiterrorism.
The idea for Saturday’s meeting took shape last fall as the Obama administration moved ahead with its withdrawal of the last American troops from Iraq, reducing the American military presence in the region at a time of brewing tensions with Iran over its nuclear programs.
The United States has close bilateral military relations with all six gulf nations, but the administration hopes to develop a more united military strategy and “security architecture” that would include an integrated missile defense system, intended to combat any attack in the region from Iran. (The system would be separate from one based in Europe that the administration said is also meant to guard against Iranian attacks.)
“We’re working with each of our partners to develop that architecture, because in order to protect the gulf, no one nation can protect itself,” a senior State Department official said, speaking on condition of anonymity according to department rules. “It needs to rely on its partners in order to have an effective missile defense system.”
The United States has recently stepped up arms sales to gulf nations, including a $30 billion sale of 154 F-15 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia and a nearly $2 billion to provide the United Arab Emirates with one of the most sophisticated antimissile systems, known as the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense, or Thaad.
The Gulf Cooperation Council, dominated by Saudi Arabia, has become increasingly active beyond its borders. Qatar and the United Arab Emirates sent combat aircraft to the Mediterranean last year as part of the NATO-led intervention against Libya, while Bahrain and the emirates have forces in Afghanistan.
That has made the United States eager to work even more closely with the nations as a group. At the same time, however, the gulf nations are some of the least democratic in the world, putting them at odds with the Obama administration’s advocacy of basic freedoms.
Mrs. Clinton spent two days in Saudi Arabia last week for talks that focused on Iran and Syria ahead of an international meeting in Istanbul on Sunday devoted to the crisis there. Saudi Arabia and Qatar have pressed for more aggressive actions against Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, to halt the forceful crackdown against protests and, increasingly, armed opposition fighters.
Mrs. Clinton also confirmed Saturday that Iran and six world powers including the United States have agreed to meet in Istanbul on April 13 for the latest round of talks about Iran’s nuclear program, the Associated Press reported.
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