Emir of Qatar Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani has said that he regrets the use of air strikes on Afghanistan, but remains committed to the fight against terrorism, according to AFP and other news agencies.
"We wish it hadn't come to this," he said after talks with French President Jacques Chirac. "We are in principle opposed to wars, opposed to seeing more victims falling."
He added, however, that "We are totally in agreement with France in the fight against terrorism, whatever forms that terrorism takes. Our position is absolutely clear.
"Qatar would have liked to avoid military strikes. We would have wished not to get to this point. We are against war," he was quoted as saying by the official Kuwaiti news agency (KUNA).
Asked whether he believed Osama bin Laden was behind the terrorist attacks in the US, said, "Nobody gave us definite proof. We wish to see any guilty groups who want to spread terrorism around the world be brought to justice."
Sheikh Hamad, who was in the United States last week, said his country had not received any request from the US for military facilities.
"We have good military relations with the United States. [But] up until now we have not been asked" for military support, he said.
The Qatari emir and Chirac also discussed economic, cultural and political relations. Sheikh Ahmad, whose country is a member of the Gulf Cooperation Council, said the GCC had not yet discussed a common position with regard to the current military campaign.
"We have not yet discussed a common position with the Gulf countries, but I don't doubt we will be discussing this," he added – Albawaba.com
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