Special to WorldTribune.com

WASHINGTON — The United States has conducted an examination of
Yemen’s defense and security requirements as part of a plan to increase aid
to the Gulf Arab state.

Officials said the U.S. review by the Defense Department began in wake
of the election of President Abbed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who replaced Ali
Abdullah Saleh, in February.

The officials said Hadi’s election has paved the way for the prospect of increased stability and security cooperation with Washington.

“We are beginning to reassess, and to start up again, some elements of
military assistance,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby.

In a briefing on April 26, Kirby said the Pentagon had suspended
military aid to Yemen amid the civil war in 2011. He said the U.S. aid was meant to bolster Yemen’s counter-insurgency capabilities, particularly against Al Qaida.

“We believe it’s a serious threat,” Kirby said. “We’re working with the
Yemeni government, even now, on how best to help them deal with that threat.”

In 2011, the Pentagon and Central Command were drafting a plan to
significantly increase military and security assistance to Yemen. Officials
said the plan called for $1 billion in training and equipment to a
reorganized Yemen’s military and security forces.

Officials said Hadi has agreed to an intensified U.S. campaign against
Al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula. They said the plan called for the
widening of air strikes, particularly by unmanned aerial vehicles, against
suspected AQAP targets.

In 2012, U.S. UAV operations against Al Qaida were running at a rate of
more than double that of last year. A key operation was a Predator UAV
strike in which Anwar Al Awlaki, identified as AQAPs’ foreign operations
chief, was killed.

“We still consider Al Qaida a threat to national security,” Kirby said.

  Abbed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, Al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, Ali Abdullah Saleh, Anwar al-Awlaki, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby, U.S. re-examines Yemen’s security needs after election of new leader