Saudi Arabia’s visiting National Guard Minister, Prince Miteb bin Abdullah, visited Washington, D.C. last week in a push to “strengthen bilateral cooperation in various sectors, especially between the Defense Department and the Saudi National Guard,” according to reports in the Arab News and the Eurasia Review.
Additionally, Miteb said that Saudi Arabia will receive Black Hawk and Apache military helicopters from the US earlier next year to bolster National Guard forces.
The visit is the latest in an uptick in diplomatic activity and military cooperation between the United States and Saudi Arabia. On Sunday, Secretary of State John Kerry met with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal to discuss the ongoing talks concerning Iran’s nuclear program, according to Al Arabiya.
Writing in his column for Arab News, Abdullateef Al-Mulhim noted that Miteb’s visit was “the talk of the town these days…very much anticipated due to the current geopolitical developments in the region. Prince Miteb is a prominent member of the royal family heading one of the most important ministries in the Kingdom.”
“He is known among Saudis for his smile and his modesty. His deep understanding of military and strategic affairs and experiences helped in elevating the capabilities of the National Guard by emphasizing on science and education. And this is what the Saudi National Guard is all about at the present time,” Al-Mulhim wrote.
Writing in the Washington Times earlier this month, S. Rob Sobhani called Miteb “the Saudi Prince who could be king.”
“Prince Miteb’s influence is not merely owing to the number of appointments he enjoys, but rather the actions he has taken over the past few years,” Sobhani wrote. The Prince has “demonstrated the ability to act quickly and decisively against subversive non-state actors such as the Islamic State, or ISIS. This decisiveness is borne from a second fundamental tenet of the 60 year-old prince’s thinking; namely, the need to unite against extremism.”
