The World : U.S. Suspends Qatar Talks

The United States has suspended military and economic talks with Qatar to protest the Persian Gulf sheikdom’s unauthorized acquisition of Stinger missiles. Assistant Secretary of State Richard W. Murphy told the House subcommittee on Europe and the Middle East that the suspension will remain in place until Qatar returns the missiles to the United States. U.S. officials, who say they do not know how many of the shoulder-fired rockets Qatar has, want to get them back in order to see their serial numbers and determine where the sheikdom got them. They have speculated that Qatar was given the Stingers by Iran, which in turn captured them from U.S.-supplied Afghan rebels.