U.S. policy towards Yemen

U.S. policy towards Yemen is dominated by concern with increasing terrorist activity there, especially affiliated with al-Qaeda. The country's poverty is understood to be a source of instability, and Great Britain will host a January summit in London to discuss radicalization there and long-term development assistance to Yemen. As of 2007, "... Yemen is an important partner in the global war on terrorism, providing assistance in the military, diplomatic, and financial arenas."

Especially since the 9-11 Attack, the U.S. has conducted officially unacknowledged direct action against terrorists in Yemen, as well as assisting Yemeni security forces. Former U.S. Ambassador to Yemen Barbara Bodine said "I think it would be a major mistake to turn this into a third front, if Iraq and Afghanistan are somehow front number one and number two...If we try to deal with this as an American security problem and dealt with by American military, we risk exacerbating the problem."

In January 2010, the U.S. and U.K. closed their embassies in the capital, not breaking diplomatic relations but citing security concerns. Indeed, General David Petraeus, commander of United States Central Command, met in person with Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh on 2 January, offering U.S. support for fighting terrorism in the region. President Barack Obama said that al-Qaeda had "...trained.."Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab "... equipped him with those explosives and directed him to attack that plane headed for America." Obama promised he "made it a priority to strengthen our partnership with the Yemeni government" and work "with them to strike al-Qaeda terrorists."

Terrorism

Before the 9-11 Attack, there was direct concern over al-Qaeda in Yemen after the 2 October 2000 suicide bombing , in the port of Aden, against the U.S. Navy destroyer USS Cole. Cooperation in the investigation were strained, both between the governments, and between Ambassador Barbara Bodine and John O'Neill of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Bodine and O'Neill had personality as well as policy conflicts. She later said, "According to the mythmakers, a battle ensued between a cop obsessed with tracking down Osama bin Laden and a bureaucrat more concerned with the feelings of the host government than the fate of Americans and the realities of terrorism....I am not here to either defend or attack O'Neill. He was a complex man. But what happened after Al Qaeda's attack on the U.S. destroyer Cole was a complex story."

Saleh visited Washington, DC, in November 2001, and it was announced that cooperation had improved. The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency operated in Yemen, looking for and sometimes attacking suspected terrorists. In 2002, targets identified as Al-Qaeda operatives were killed by a missile, launched, at their car, from a CIA-controlled Predator unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).

The next summit-level contact was in June 2004, when President Saleh attended the G-8 Sea Island Summit in Washington, D.C. In November 2005 and May 2007, President Saleh again visited Washington, and met with President George W. Bush and Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice.

Transnational involvement by Yemenite groups

Somalia's al-Shabab claimed ties to Yemenite in 2010, with weapons coming to Somalia, and al-Shabab members volunteering to fight in Yemen.

Background

The United States established diplomatic relations with Yemen in 1946, first in the capital of the time, Taiz, which moved to Sanaa in 1966. The United States was one of the first countries to recognize the Yemen Arab Republic (YAR), doing so on December 19, 1962. A major U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) program constructed the Mocha-Taiz-Sanaa highway and the Kennedy memorial water project in Taiz, as well as many smaller projects. Yemen broke off diplomatic relations after the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. The country was split into the Yemen Arab Republic (YAR) and People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (PDRY), although it is now unified. The United States and the PDRY reestablished diplomatic relations on April 30, 1990, only 3 weeks before the announcement of unification. However, the embassy in Aden, which closed in 1969, was never reopened, and the PDRY as a political entity no longer exists.

Secretary of State William P. Rogers restored relations with the YAR following a visit to Sanaa in July 1972, and a new USAID agreement was concluded in 1973.

"During a 1979 border conflict between the Yemen Arab Republic and the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen, the United States cooperated with Saudi Arabia to greatly expand the security assistance program to the YAR by providing F-5 aircraft, tanks, vehicles and training. George H.W. Bush, while Vice President, visited in April 1986, and President Ali Abdullah Saleh visited the United States in January 1990. The United States had a $42 million USAID program in 1990. From 1973 to 1990, the United States provided the YAR with assistance in the agriculture, education, and health and water sectors. Many Yemenis were sent on U.S. Government scholarships to study in the region and in the United States. There was a Peace Corps program with about 50 volunteers. The U.S. Information Service operated an English-language institute in Sanaa.

Gulf War aftermath

"In 1990, as a result of Yemen's actions in the Security Council following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, the United States drastically reduced its presence in Yemen including canceling all military cooperation, non-humanitarian assistance, and the Peace Corps program. USAID levels dropped in FY 1991 to $2.9 million, but food assistance through the PL 480 and PL 416 (B) programs continued through 2006. In 2006, the U.S. Department of Agriculture provided 30,000 metric tons of soybean meal that were sold for approximately $7.5 million to finance programs in support of Yemen’s agricultural sector.

Warming of relations

"The United States was actively involved in and strongly supportive of parliamentary elections in 1993 as well as the 2006 presidential and local council elections, and continues working to strengthen Yemen's democratic institutions. The USAID program, focused in the health field, had slowly increased to $8.5 million in FY 1995, but ended in FY 2000. It was reinvigorated in 2003 and a USAID office has re-opened in Sanaa. Yemen has also received significant funding from the Middle East Partnership Initiative. Funds went, in large part, to support literacy projects, election monitoring, training for civil society, and the improvement of electoral procedures.

"Defense relations between Yemen and the United States are improving rapidly, with the resumption of International Military Education and Training assistance and the transfer of military equipment and spare parts. In FY 2006 U.S. Foreign Military Financing (FMF) for Yemen was $8.42 million, International Military Education and Training (IMET) was $924,000, and Non-Proliferation, Anti-Terrorism, Demining and Related Programs (NADR) was $1.4 million. In FY 2006 Yemen also received $7.9 million in Economic Support Funds (ESF), $10 million in Food for Progress (Title 1) assistance, and $5 million in Section 1206 funding.

In November 2006, a World Bank-sponsored international donors conference held in London raised $4.7 billion for Yemen's development; the funds are to be disbursed between 2007 and 2010.