Pak Sahafat/ Washington’s allies and partners are worried these days about the continuation of US engagement in the wake of the Biden administration’s tumultuous withdrawal from Afghanistan and agreements such as the US-British-Australian security pact called ACUS.
The Biden administration’s foreign policy has led to growing distrust of partners and allies, with senior White House security, political and military officials traveling extensively around the world.
During a recent regional trip, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan traveled to West Asia with White House Coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa Brett McGregor and Lander King, the US Special Representative for Yemen, and met with senior Saudi and UAE officials.
This was Sullivan’s first visit to West Asia as White House national security adviser and top official in the Biden administration.
Politico wrote in a report on the purpose of Sullivan’s visit: According to a senior US government official, the purpose of the US National Security Adviser’s visit to Saudi Arabia and the UAE is security cooperation, support for a comprehensive ceasefire in Yemen and the need for urgent action to reduce the country’s humanitarian crisis, as well as the dimensions of Iran’s nuclear program.
The American official has claimed: In the case of Yemen, US officials, including Lander King, the US special envoy to Yemen, and Brett McGregor, the Middle East envoy to US President Joe Biden, have raised tough questions during a meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as the US seeks a ceasefire in Yemen.
Lander King has been in Saudi Arabia and Oman for the past two weeks, and Secretary of State Anthony Bilkenn has attended a Gulf Cooperation Council meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, following previous meetings and talks.
Sullivan’s visit to Saudi Arabia reportedly took place at a critical time. Ro Khana, a Republican senator in the US House of Representatives, has already introduced a bill that would end US intelligence and logistical support to Saudi Arabia in the Yemeni war. It is completely out of the Yemeni war.
Sullivan had previously supported the end of US financial support for the Saudi war in Yemen before serving as national security adviser to the Biden administration.
During his visit to Saudi Arabia, the US National Security Adviser met with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Secretary of Defense Khalid bin Salman, Interior Minister Abdul Aziz bin Saud bin Nayef and Saudi National Guard Minister Abdullah bin Bandar, and then Saudi Arabia to the United Arab Emirates.
According to Axius, the meeting between Sullivan and Muhammad ibn Salman took place in the city of Nium, on the shores of the Red Sea; A city that Saudi Arabia is pursuing a $ 500 billion development project.
According to the report, Yemen and Iran were the focus of the meeting, and the US National Security Adviser welcomed the Baghdad meeting with the aim of cooperating with countries in the region.
Unlike relations between Riyadh and Washington, relations between the UAE and the United States have reached Joe Biden largely without tension from Donald Trump.
According to Axius, the Biden administration has supported the normalization of relations between the UAE and the Zionist regime and has agreed to the approval of a controversial agreement to sell fighter jets to the UAE, which was signed in the Trump administration.
According to the report, the United States wants to reduce its focus in the Middle East, and all three countries – Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt – are concerned about continued US engagement with the Middle East after its withdrawal from Afghanistan. During his visit to Egypt, Sullivan also met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, during which the two sides discussed regional tensions as well as bilateral relations between Egypt and the United States, according to the Egyptian presidency.
Sullivan’s visit to Egypt came as the US government pressured Egypt to suspend the detention of al-Sisi’s opponents, Axius reported. Earlier this month, the United States threatened to cut off $ 130 million in aid to Egypt over concerns about human rights abuses.
According to the report, an informed official on the US delegation in Egypt, who did not want to be named, said details of the meeting between Sullivan and al-Sisi had been discussed by the two sides on the human rights situation in Egypt, and that Washington believed Egypt was improving.
The Office of the President of Egypt also stated in its statement: In another part of their talks, the two sides focused on efforts to restore peace between the Palestinians and Israel.
In another part of their talks, the two sides focused on efforts to restore peace between the Palestinians and Israel. Al-Sisi’s government was able to mediate a ceasefire after the 11-day war between Israel and Hamas broke out in May.
Other issues discussed between the US National Security Adviser and the Egyptian president included the security and political situation in Libya.
Al-Sisi and Sullivan also discussed a decade-long dispute over a massive dam Ethiopia is building on the main tributary of the Nile.
The Egyptians want American support in their dispute with Ethiopia over the Great Barrier Reef in Ethiopia. Egypt sees the project as a threat to its water supply.
Egypt’s Al-Yawm Al-Sabeeh news website also reported that al-Sisi stressed in a meeting with Sullivan that Egypt would not allow its blue interests to be harmed or endangered.
The President of Egypt stressed the extent of the country’s commitment to the negotiation process and said: The international community must play an effective role in resolving this very important issue, because Egypt does not accept that its water interests will be harmed or endangered.
Egypt and Ethiopia have been negotiating for nearly a decade over the management and filling of the Ennahda Dam reservoir built by Addis Ababa on the Nile, but no agreement has been reached so far.
The Ethiopian government announced on July 5 that it has begun the second phase of the flooding of the Ennahda Dam; An action that Egypt declared a dangerous development.
The question now is whether US officials will be able to regain the lost trust of their partners and allies in the aftermath of the fall of Ashraf Ghani and the Agus Pact.
Will Washington, as the main lever and the source of the conflicts, including in West Asia, really get out of these conflicts or will it just change its role? Will the US pull out of these conflicts and cost them the same as Afghanistan?