A pal with short dress from Gulf state (3,5)
I believe the answer is:
abu dhabi
'state' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'a pal with short dress from gulf' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'a' is found in the answer.
'pal' could be 'bud' (I've seen this in another clue) and 'bud' is present in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for abu dhabi that I've seen before include "One of the United Arab Emirates" , "M East country" , "Arab state" , "foreign land" , "Asian capital" .)