A moderate Middle East proposal for the next president

I wrote this before knowing the outcome of the election because, as someone who has worked on complex Middle East issues through five presidential administrations, I believe what I’m proposing could be useful to any post-election policy review of the region. 

The purpose is not to address specific policy options or analyze why the Middle East is important to the U.S. Rather, I am proposing a process that includes discussion, input and, ideally, buy-in from key potential partners in the region.

{mosads}The growing interconnectivity of issues among our friends and foes in the Middle East has complicated the situation to a point where further examination, insight, and willing partners that share common views have become increasingly essential to any prospect for success.

Tactical short-term unilateral responses may only cause larger and more complicated reactions from countries in the region, and draw counter responses from Russia, Iran, and even the European Union. On top of that, our friends in the region are highly skeptical of U.S. intentions and reliability. Many have begun to hedge their bets on future cooperation with us.

The process I’m suggesting isn’t dramatic, but it is different from the usual U.S. approach, and I think it might help to repair the fraying quality of our relations and reconstruct some common ground and common goals.

Most critically, we need to have an immediate top-to-bottom review of our policy options. One cannot pretend to do a top-down review without listening to friends in the region and gauging their willingness to address our issues, as well as giving them a renewed understanding that their issues matter to us. As part of this review we should identify key countries and make a quick visit to each to examine their views and interests, as well as our expectations for a partnership with them.

They should include: Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, traditionally strong U.S. allies who currently have doubts about the reciprocity of their friendship.

I’m not talking about a glad-hand meeting by a sole U.S. representative, but rather a small team to engage, listen, and learn. This will help to develop a better understanding of the immense challenges that we face; demonstrate the seriousness of our intentions; and show the importance that the President-elect places on respect for them and their opinions, which will hopefully enhance the trust and confidence of our Middle East interlocutors.

These countries need to see we are prepared to have a real two-way partnership, which will form the basis of a long-term strategy to help each other achieve individual objectives, as long as certain expectations – on both sides – are met. During my participation on several think tank panels this fall, I was surprised by the lack of understanding of the importance of such long-term, two-way partnerships. While U.S. interests in the region were clearly articulated during these sessions, little or no attention was given to the interests of our so-called partners. 

I believe that reaching out to the region will go a long way to building trust and confidence with these indispensable partners and achieving their eventual buy-in, not to mention providing administration policymakers with a broader and more substantive understanding of the region and its potentially larger impact on the rest of the world.

Such a process should result in long-term partnerships, with mutual expectations on both sides, and a meaningful mechanism to move our agendas forward. While many of our needs are short-term and multilateral in nature, the needs of countries of the region are longer term. They will want to know whether their needs are equally respected and considered important by the U.S., and whether the U.S. has the long-term will to stick with its friends.

President-elect Trump will face many crises early in his tenure, potentially more significant than those in the Middle East, and potentially more explosive than in recent history. His leadership and willpower will be immediately tested by countries and non-state actors in many regions of the world.  If we employ the proper process in the Middle East, we can develop a strategy that creates partners rather than antagonists, helps us to connect our Middle East policy with our many global interests, and hopefully turns around an otherwise deteriorating circumstance in the region.

Without trusted friends in the Middle East, who trust us in return, our goals there — and very possibly in the rest of the world — will be much more difficult to achieve.

Edward M. Gabriel, former U.S. ambassador to Morocco, advises the Kingdom of Morocco. 

The views expressed by contributors are their own and not the views of The Hill.