{"id":4887,"date":"2021-03-29T19:32:00","date_gmt":"2021-03-29T23:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yemeniamerican.com\/en\/?p=4887"},"modified":"2021-04-19T16:56:14","modified_gmt":"2021-04-19T20:56:14","slug":"how-biden-is-trying-to-get-american-involvement-out-of-yemen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yemeniamerican.com\/en\/how-biden-is-trying-to-get-american-involvement-out-of-yemen\/","title":{"rendered":"How Biden is Trying to Get American Involvement Out of Yemen"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Simon Albaugh \u2013 Yemeni American News<\/p>\n

At the outset of the Biden Presidency, the incoming administration has shown a clear focus for the challenges of global politics in a way completely separate of Donald Trump\u2019s leadership. Marked by banning refugees from Muslim-majority countries and a hawkish approach to global adversaries, the Trump presidency\u2019s foreign policy toward Yemen and other countries in the region can only be compared to an untreated wound.<\/p>\n

America\u2019s involvement in the various conflicts of the near-east region of the world is temperamental at best. Analysts believe that a dramatic removal of troops from the region<\/a> would further destabilize America\u2019s foreign policy efforts, but the efforts made by US Troops have already done considerable damage to the economies and cultures of countries like Iraq.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Yemen is no exception to that rule. During the Obama presidency, the United States began its support for the Saudi-led coalition that has wrecked the country and established what world leaders call the worst humanitarian crisis around the globe. Now, that stable support is being considered the decisive change in the dynamic of the conflict.<\/p>\n

During Trump\u2019s presidency, Trump showed a calculated avoidance of dealing with the conflict in Yemen and America\u2019s support for it. Even with bipartisan support for ending US Involvement, a bill introduced by Senator Sanders (D-VT) which passed the necessary votes in the House and Senate was vetoed by President Trump.<\/a><\/p>\n

One of Trump\u2019s last efforts for the Saudi-led Coalition was a rushed Arms Deal that would have supplied weapons to Saudi Arabia for their conflict with the Houthis near the Northern Border of Yemen. Defense companies like Raytheon expected the Biden administration to pause the sale, which he eventually did.<\/p>\n

Now, people in Yemen, and the Yemeni Diaspora are watching to see how Biden will react to the conflict, and work \u201cdiplomatically\u201d to aid in the recreation of a stable country.<\/p>\n

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What has Biden done so far?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Experts on Yemen\u2019s situation watched closely as the senate vetted Biden\u2019s Secretary of State pick Antony Blinken. In Blinken\u2019s confirmation hearing with the US Senate, Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn) questioned him on the approach that he would take in renegotiating the relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia. The biggest factor in discussion was the end of military offensive support.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe President Elect has made clear that we will end our support for the military campaign led by Saudi Arabia in Yemen, and I think we will work on that in very short order once the President Elect is President,\u201d Blinken said. \u201cFor the reasons that you’ve cited we have seen Yemen become the worst humanitarian situation in the world\u2026 the way the campaign has been conducted has also contributed significantly to that situation. And so our support should end.\u201d<\/p>\n

The appointment of Antony Blinken is an important step to solving the Humanitarian Crisis in Yemen. As America\u2019s intimate involvement in Saudi Arabia\u2019s border policy led to increasing airstrikes that decimated civilian populations in the Northern Region of the country, and UAE forces the south, America needed to re-examine where its manufactured defense products were going.<\/p>\n

In Biden\u2019s first speech on foreign policy, the incoming president spoke about the renewed focus on diplomacy in combatting the new challenges on the global stage, including the conflict in Yemen. His focus for the country depends on a number of concrete steps.<\/p>\n