A friend in the Middle East
The diplomatic challenges facing the United States in the Middle East are myriad: Iran’s nuclear program, a terror-fueled Yemen, a barely stable Iraq, and a war in factionalized Afghanistan compete for attention against the long conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. If American leaders want help disentangling — and possibly even solving — these complex problems, they should look to Saudi Arabia for leadership, said Prince Turki Al Faisal, former ambassador to the United States, in a talk at the Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) on Friday (Nov. 19). In his talk, “A Saudi Foreign Policy Doctrine for the New Decade,” Turki envisioned a U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East anchored by the longstanding, stable relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia, the region’s economic powerhouse and the birthplace of Islam. “If the world truly wants peace in the Middle East, it should reach out to the outstretched hand of King Abdullah,” the...