WASHINGTON — President Biden, who vowed as a candidate to make Saudi Arabia a “pariah” in response to the assassination of a prominent dissident, has decided to travel to Riyadh this month to restore relations with the oil-rich kingdom at a time in which he tries to lower gas prices at home and isolate Russia abroad.
While logistics and timing were still being worked out, Mr Biden planned to add the visit to a previously planned trip to Europe and Israel, government officials said, asking for anonymity as the trip had not been formally announced. During his stop in Riyadh, he will meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who was believed to be responsible for the assassination, as well as leaders of other Arab countries, including Egypt, Jordan, Iraq and the United Arab Emirates.
According to foreign policy experts, the visit represents the victory of realpolitik over moral outrage. In the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Mr Biden finds it necessary to sue other energy producers to replace Moscow oil and stabilize global markets. The group of oil-producing countries called OPEC Plus, led by Saudi Arabia, announced on Thursday that they would modestly increase production in July and August. US officials expect to do more in the fall, but cutting prices at the pump may not be enough before November’s congressional elections.
The Biden administration has already stepped up cooperation with Saudi Arabia in several areas in recent months, most notably in seeking an end to the eight-year-old Saudi-led war in neighboring Yemen. A two-month-old truce was extended Thursday, and Mr Biden praised Saudi leaders for their role. “Saudi Arabia has shown courageous leadership by taking early initiatives to approve and implement the terms of the UN-led ceasefire,” he said in a statement.
The president’s diplomacy and journey represent an effort to mend the rift in relations that resulted from the brutal murder of Jamal Khashoggi in 2018, a noted critic of the Saudi government and a columnist for The Washington Post. US intelligence concluded that Prince Mohammed, the de facto leader of the kingdom, had ordered the team that killed and dismembered Khashoggi at a consulate in Istanbul.
While President Donald J. Trump maintained close relations with the Saudis, Mr. Biden promised to take a different path if elected to the White House. He said he would make the Saudis “pay the price and basically make them the pariah they are,” while saying there was “very little social redemptive value in the current government in Saudi Arabia.”
After taking office, Mr Biden released the intelligence report on Mr Khashoggi’s murder as a statement of responsibility and imposed sanctions on some of those involved in the murder. But he took no action against Prince Mohammed, limiting how far he was willing to break with Riyadh even before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine rocked energy markets and increased Saudi Arabia’s importance to Washington.
The administration says it ended the Trump team’s policy of blank checks for Riyadh, but was unwilling to end America’s eight-decade friendship with Saudi Arabia, which has been a key ally. on many issues.
“Saudi Arabia is a vital partner for us in tackling extremism in the region, in dealing with Iran’s challenges, and I hope also in continuing the process of building relations between Israel and its neighbors, both close as well as further afield through the continuation of , the extension of the Abraham accords,” said State Secretary Antony J. Blinken on Wednesday at an event to mark the 100th anniversary of Foreign Affairs magazine.
Biden had planned to end Prince Mohammed’s isolation as early as October when he expected to meet the Saudi leader at a meeting of the Group of 20 Leaders, but the prince was not present.
Understanding the Khashoggi Murder Case
But the newly planned stop in Riyadh, previously reported by David Ignatius, a columnist for The Post, drew swift criticism from human rights groups and rejected any diplomatic rehabilitation of Prince Mohammed.
“Right now, Biden is plagued by intersecting crises, and as a result, certain human rights priorities are suffering,” said Suzanne Nossel, the chief executive of PEN America, a group that advocates for writers around the world. “The harder it gets to put human rights above politics, the more impact it has on the world to witness a leader who wants it.”