MICHELE NORRIS, host:
From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Michele Norris.
MELISSA BLOCK, host:
And I'm Melissa Block. The U.S. embassy in Yemen has been closed for two days now. And as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said today, it will stay closed as the Obama administration assesses threats from the al-Qaida affiliate in Yemen. Clinton said instability in Yemen is a threat to security everywhere, as NPR's Michele Kelemen reports.
MICHELE KELEMEN: Secretary of State Clinton says the embassy was closed to the public yesterday and today for good reason.
Secretary HILLARY CLINTON (Department of State): That is in response to ongoing threats by al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, so-called AQAP, that have been ongoing. They certainly predate this holiday season, and they are aimed at American interests in Yemen.
KELEMEN: The embassy has been the target of terrorist attacks before, as recently as 2008. Clinton said officials review the security there constantly.
Sec. CLINTON: And we'll make a decision on reopening the embassy when the security conditions permit.
KELEMEN: She was speaking today alongside the prime minister of Qatar, another country on the Arabian Peninsula which is worried about the situation in Yemen. Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani raised concerns not only about the terrorist threats in Yemen but also about civil strife.
Prime Minister SHEIKH HAMAD BIN JASIM AL-THANI (Qatar): This is the fifth or the sixth war in Yemen and for that reason, we know that this problem have to be solved through dialogue, and dialogue which can give the lead for the state of Yemen because we support the unity of Yemen.
KELEMEN: U.S. General David Petraeus visited Yemen over the weekend, and announced that the U.S. will more than double its counterterrorism aid to the country. Barbara Bodine, a former U.S. ambassador to Yemen, says the U.S. shouldn't just train troops, though.
Ms. BARBARA BODINE (Former U.S. Ambassador, Yemen): It's not nearly as sexy to train a bureaucrat as it is to train a soldier. It doesn't look nearly as good on film. But if you're really talking about the ability of a state to survive, you really need a strong governmental structure.
KELEMEN: Speaking by cell phone today, Bodine said the U.S. and its partners need to find a way to make sure Yemen, one of the world's poorest countries, doesn't go from fragile state to failed state.
Ms. BODINE: If you just want to do it from a dollars-and-cents point of view, it's a whole lot more cost-effective to invest in state capacity building and human capacity building than to wait for Yemen to become a failed state - and then have to go back and try to help rebuild it. And we certainly don't want it to fail.
KELEMEN: Britain plans to hold an international conference on Yemen later this month, and Secretary Clinton says she'll be consulting her counterparts before then to come up with new strategies to stabilize the country.
Sec. CLINTON: We see global implications from the war in Yemen, and the ongoing efforts by al-Qaida in Yemen, to use it as a base for terrorist attacks far beyond the region.
KELEMEN: Secretary Clinton is also gearing up for a White House meeting tomorrow on how a Nigerian man who allegedly got training and explosives in Yemen managed to board flight 253 from Amsterdam to Detroit last month. The man had a valid U.S. visa, though his father had warned the U.S. embassy in Nigeria that he had been radicalized. Clinton said the State Department sent the information through the proper channels, but she conceded today that those procedures might need an upgrade.
Michele Kelemen, NPR News, Washington.