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13:01 GMT
DOHA, May 15 (KUNA) -- US President Donald Trump on Thursday heaped praise upon Qatari Amir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani as a great leader for his people.
Speaking at the US military base, Al-Udeid, Trump said the Amir Sheikh Tamim has been a friend to him since the times before engaging in politics, confirming that Doha made a deal with Washington to buy military hardware, including drones and combat vehicles.
Trump boasted of the American military forces as "the mightiest in history," revealing that he had signed an order to build a defense "dome" to protect the US airspace and that Washington plans to make F-47 warplanes -- the sixth generation of the fighter jets -- soon.
Priority must be dedicated to resolving strifes, not triggering the conflicts, he added, affirming that the US forces were ready to "confront the enemies" with their annihilating power.
Trump added that plentiful of terrorists including chiefs in the "Islamic state" (Daesh) group had been eliminated in just three weeks, unlike what he had been told that such an operation would last for four years.
He lamented the US forces' withdrawal from Afghanistan, arguing that the American air base there should have been maintained, reiterating that the Ukraine-Russia war would not have flared in the case he had been president of the United States at the time.
For his part, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said his department advocated "peace through force," not that it had been accorded a "historic budget" projected at one trillion dollars for next year.
The US forces will be stronger than their past might, he said, indicating at recruitment of more personnel in the armed forces.
Trump, accompanied by US officials, arrived in Doha on Wednesday on an official visit, coming from Saudi Arabia, as part of a regional tour including the UAE. (end)
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