WASHINGTON (AP) – The Biden administration on Wednesday halted or revised a wide range of foreign policies from the Trump era as the new top U.S. diplomat took the helm of the State Department.
The administration has at least temporarily held several arms sales to the UAE and Saudi Arabia, while newly installed Secretary of State Antony Blinken said it was urgently considering a terrorist designation against Houthi rebels. of Yemen which his predecessor enacted shortly before leaving office.
In his first full day at work, Blinken said the administration has begun a thorough review of the U.S. relationship with Russia and is examining the details of a U.S.-Taliban peace deal signed almost one year. He said the administration, however, had asked Trump’s special envoy to Afghanistan, former UN ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, to continue working for continuity.
Speaking to reporters just hours after his ceremonial but limited coronavirus entry in the State Department’s main lobby, Blinken also said the administration is willing to return to commitments under the nuclear deal. 2015 with Iran, which former President Donald Trump withdrew, but only if Iran fully fulfills the agreement again.
In his statements to a demoralized diplomatic corps that has often been denigrated or ignored for the past four years, Blinken vowed to rebuild foreign service ranks and rely on his experience as the Biden administration tries to restore the U.S. global position. . He said the world is watching as America pursues foreign policy after Trump’s “America First” doctrine that alienated many U.S. allies.
Blinken spoke with foreign ministers in Britain, France, Germany and Israel on Wednesday, following calls on Tuesday afternoon from his counterparts in Canada, Mexico, Japan and South Korea.
Appearing in the press conference room, which had rarely been used during the Trump administration, Blinken pledged to respect and be accessible to journalists and to reschedule daily State Department press sessions starting next week. .
On policy issues, Blinken said he was especially concerned about the designation of a “foreign terrorist organization” for Iran-backed houthis that former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced just 10 days before the end of the Trump administration. Many fear that this measure, which entails strict US sanctions, will unnecessarily exacerbate what is already one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world.
Of all the steps Trump and Pompeo took in their waning days, “this is the priority of my book,” Blinken said of the appointment. “We’re looking at it very urgently and very closely.” The Treasury Department has already proposed suspending some of the sanctions affiliated with the designation, but aid groups say massive famine could occur if not all of them are lifted.
The pause in arms sales to the UAE and Saudi Arabia, which was announced just days after the Nov. 6 election that Trump lost to current President Joe Biden, is also related to Yemen . Critics fear that the two Arab nations could use advanced U.S. weapons to continue the Saudi-led war in Yemen with a significant risk of civilian casualties. The department billed the temporary suspension, which includes the arrest of a $ 23 billion transfer of stealth F-35 fighters to the UAE, as “routine administrative action” for a new administration.
Blinken said sales are being reviewed to determine if they meet U.S. national security goals.
On Afghanistan, Blinken said the Biden administration wanted to take a detailed look at the February 2020 peace deal negotiated between the Trump administration and the Taliban to try to extract U.S. troops from the country after almost 20 years of war. “We need to understand exactly what’s in the agreement” before deciding how to proceed, he said. Khalilzad, the top U.S. negotiator, has been asked to stay in the workplace so he can “continue the vital work he does.”
On Iran, Blinken has repeated comments that Biden has made earlier and that he himself made to lawmakers at his confirmation hearing last week. Blinken said the administration is ready to ease the sanctions the Trump administration re-imposed on Iran as long as Iran fully complies with the 2015 agreement. At that time, Blinken said the administration would try to strengthen and lengthen the terms of the agreement. But, he said, “we are a long way from that moment.”
Biden has promised to reverse Trump’s approach, which had alienated many traditional U.S. allies who perceived it as a tough one-sided approach that left no room for negotiation. Blinken said that after four years, the United States would re-engage with allies on a reciprocal basis, rather than being purely transactional.
“The world is watching us closely right now,” Blinken said. “They want to know if we can heal our nation. They want to see if we will lead with the power of our example and if we will give a bonus to diplomacy with our allies and partners to face the great challenges of our time, such as the pandemic, climate change, economic crisis, threats to democracies, struggles for racial justice and the danger to our global security and stability posed by our rivals and adversaries. “
Blinken, a 58-year-old trusted man from Biden, was confirmed to be the 71st Secretary of State by the Senate on Tuesday in a 78-22 vote. The post is the highest office of the Council of Ministers, with the fourth secretary in the line of presidential succession. Blinken, the Obama administration’s former deputy secretary of state, pledged that US global leadership has returned and that the state department will be “central.”
Blinken inherited a deeply demoralized and exhausted workforce in the State Department. Neither of his two immediate predecessors of Trump, Rex Tillerson or Pompey, offered strong resistance to repeated attempts to gut the agency. These were frustrated only by the intervention of Congress.
Blinken said he will promote and protect foreign service, which had been out of play during the Trump era, and that after four years of atrophy, the State Department will once again play a major role in America’s relations. with the world.