Frustration with US role reflected in UAE exit from maritime coalition: media

DOHA -- United Arab Emirates (UAE)'s recent move to quit a US-led maritime coalition revealed Abu Dhabi's disappointment at US reluctance to actively protect its partners and rebuild its deterrence in the Gulf region, the Al Jazeera has reported.

The UAE Foreign Ministry announced on Wednesday that the country had stopped participating in the Combined Maritime Forces two months ago, "as a result of our ongoing evaluation of effective security cooperation with all partners."

"The UAE withdrawal would appear to be consistent with the frustration expressed in Abu Dhabi at the perceived lack of willingness of the US to actively protect its partners and re-establish credible deterrence in the Gulf," the Al Jazeera quoted Kristian Ulrichsen, fellow for the Middle East at Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy, as saying.

The UAE is also pushing back against US demands to sever relations with Russia and China, Andreas Krieg, an associate professor at the Defence Studies Department of King's College London, was quoted as saying.

The Combined Maritime Forces, consisting of 34 nations and headquartered at the US naval base in Bahrain, was initially established to combat terrorism and piracy in the Red Sea and Gulf regions, according to the report.

Krieg added that the UAE-US ties are currently experiencing "a bit of a rough patch," as Abu Dhabi perceives the US as consistently falling short of its role as a security guarantor in the region.