Combating extremism in the Middle East, defeating ISIL and working toward a peaceful Palestine were among the topics discussed by Qatar’s Emir and the US President during an official White House visit yesterday.

In a statement emphasizing the strong security, as well as “commercial, educational, scientific (and) technological” ties that the US has with Qatar, American President Barack Obama said the two leaders had “a wide-ranging conversation” that touched on stabilizing Iraq, transitioning embattled president Bashar Al Assad out of Syria and ensuring Iran has no nuclear capabilities.

Obama concluded his remarks by praising Qatar for the opportunities it provides its young people, continuing:

“Qatar is an extraordinary example of that, partly because it’s been blessed by natural resources, but also because it’s made good decisions about how to develop its economy. And hopefully that kind of prosperity can be spread more widely in the years to come, and I look forward to being a partner with Qatar in making that happen.”

For his part, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, who penned an op-ed in the New York Times yesterday stressing that hopelessness, not Islam, was the root cause of terrorism, said:

“We are all concerned on what’s going on in our region. You mentioned the countries that we spoke about. Yes, we are concerned about it – we are concerned, as well, about the terrorist groups in our region. I think we all share the same view, the reason why those terrorist groups are growing in our region.

And we have to make sure that to solve this problem we are all fighting terrorism – and it’s a must – is to make sure that the reason why this happened doesn’t happen again, because it happened years ago and it’s happening again now.”

He added that he was glad Obama supported the idea of a peace process that would help Palestine.

Here’s the Emir’s visit, in photos:

Thoughts?