Upon graduating from RMA Sandhurst in 1977, Sheikh Abdullah returned to Qatar and was appointed lieutenant in the Qatari police. He left the police sometime during the reign of his uncle Emir Sheikh Khalifa bin Hamad Al Thani. Later in 1992 he was appointed minister of Islamic affairs, a post he held until 1995. During the reign of his cousin Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, he was appointed minister of interior.
Controversy
Earlier in his career, Al Thani served as Qatar’s Minister of Islamic Affairs and Endowments. During this time, al-Qaeda operative Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, named “the principal architect of the 9/11 attacks,” moved to Qatar “at the suggestion of the former minister of Islamic affairs of Qatar, Shaykh Abdallah Bin Khalid Bin Hamad al-Thani,” according to the U.S. Department of Defense. In 1995, Abdullah bin Khalid al Thani is believed to have provided funding to Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to support him in combat in the Bosnian war. While the U.S. pushed for Sheikh Mohammed’s arrest, Abdullah bin Khalid Al Thani allegedly told Khalid Sheikh Mohammed about the growing pressure for his arrest, leading to him reportedly leaving the country with a Qatar-provided passport on a ‘government executive jet.’ After this, Al Thani was "briefly confined to house arrest." In a 2003 article by The New York Times, Sheikh Abdullah bin Khalid Al-Thani is mentioned as "the same official who had repeatedly allowed Arab extremists who had fought in Afghanistan to live on his farm." The article also describes a Qatari government minister who housed “as many as 100 Arab extremists” on his Qatari farm in the mid-1990s. Former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs Richard Clarke has also commented on Al Thani’s ties to terrorism. While serving as Qatar’s Interior Minister, Clarke said that Al Thani held sympathies for Osama bin Laden and terrorist groups and "was using his personal money and ministry money to transfer to Al Qaeda front groups that were allegedly charities." U.S. officials have also reportedly suggested that Al Thani provided shelter, fake documents, and other assistance as they traveled through Qatar. U.S. officials also said that Sheikh Abdallah was visited by Osama bin Laden himself between the years of 1996 and 2000. Leaked U.S. government reports, for instance, revealed that Al Thani met with bin Laden during his January 1996 visit in Doha. The terrorist leader was quoted reporting the "successful movements of explosives into Saudi Arabia" as well as the operations against U.S. and U.K. interests in Dammam, Dharan, and Khobar through the activities of clandestine Al Qaeda cells in Saudi Arabia. Al Thani is part of a list of terrorists wanted in four Middle Eastern countries namely, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the UAE, and Bahrain. This list includes 59 terrorists being sheltered by Qatar. Security warnings were released in these countries recently after the former interior minister surfaced in Doha. In a captured photograph of the rare public appearance, Al Thani was shown signing his autograph in a wall portrait of the Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani.
Personal life
Sheikh Abdullah is married and has four wives. He has a total of 33 sons and daughters. He holds a true love and passion for all animals, however horses and in particular Straight Egyptian Arabian Horses he holds in the highest esteem. Sheikh Abdulla owns Al Waab Farm, which is now a world renown Straight Egyptian Arabian Horse breeding farm. The Horse Breeding Farm is managed by his son, Sheikh Ahmed Abdulla KH H Al Thani, a well known Qatari businessmen and Government Official. Since late 2003, Sheikh Abdullah has resided in a secluded estate on his 7000 acres private farm in Waab Al Abareq, northern Qatar. Sheikh Abdullah rarely makes any public appearances.
