US PLEDGES $200M IN AID TO STABILISE FREED ZONES IN SYRIA
▶ Tillerson says ISIL’s lasting defeat cannot be ensured without providing the displaced with their basic needs
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson yesterday said that ISIL’s defeat cannot be ensured without providing basic needs to those displaced by war.
Speaking at a meeting in Kuwait of the global coalition against ISIL, Mr Tillerson said that Washington decided to provide US$200 million (Dh734.6m) in aid to stabilise liberated areas of Syria.
The secretary of state is seeking to shore up support from the 70 countries and thousands of companies converging in Kuwait City for a donor conference to raise $88 billion needed to rebuild Iraq after the onslaught of ISIL.
However, the US, instead, said it encourages investments by the companies in the private sector and Gulf Arab allies.
Mr Tillerson’s five-stop tour of the Middle East comes as a recent military clash between Israel and Iran in Syria presents challenges to the US’s reduced policy on the region.
The Trump administration said it did not plan to pledge any money for the reconstruction of Iraq after the US spent $60bn on projects in the country following the ousting of former president Saddam Hussein in 2003.
Government auditors in 2013 said that 10 per cent of the US money could not be accounted for, with billions of dollars wasted on dubious contracts.
Mr Tillerson’s announcement of more than $200m to Syria signifies a reversal in Mr Trump’s policy to withdraw from nation-building efforts.
In addition to reconstruction, Iraq will be braced to tackle the possible re- emergence of ISIL, with areas of the country still ripe for extremism.
“ISIL’s leadership, online presence and terrorist network are under more pressure than ever, but the end of major combat operations does not mean we have achieved the enduring defeat of ISIL,” said Mr Tillerson.
The group, he said, remained “a serious threat to the stability of the region and our homelands in other parts of the globe, without continued attention from the coalition we risk the return of extremist groups like ISIL”.
On his tour of the region, Mr Tillerson held meetings with several heads of state, including Saudi Arabia and the UAE, two countries expected to be big donors. Failure to raise the expected figure may spell disaster for Prime Minister Haidar Al Abadi who is trying to rally support in Iraq ahead of his campaign for re-election in May this year.
Despite ISIL’s defeat, Mr Abadi is still unsure of his standing among the millions of Iraqis displaced by the war. New prospects for joint co- ordination among members of the international coalition against ISIL should be created, Kuwait’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al Sabah said yesterday.
“The international community is still facing a direct threat from armed terrorist groups. This requires joint co- ordination and developing the coalition’s strategy to fight ISIL,” the Kuwaiti diplomat said.
The conference fell short of the $88bn needed with only $330m pledged on Monday by non-governmental groups.
Of the 70 countries attending the conference, none has indicated any real pledge yet.
The current outcome places Iraq in a tenuous position with more than 3.5 million residents displaced amid enormous infrastructure damage.
Iraqi officials called for $23bn in short-term reconstruction and $65bn to be delivered over the space of a few years.
The conference will be divided into two sessions, with the first one tackling the remaining fight against ISIL and the second dedicated to examining anti-terrorism efforts.
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson may be visiting five countries during his Middle East tour, but the spectre of a trip to Turkey looms large. With little to analyse thus far, it is perhaps more illuminating to see where he is not going; most notably Israel. Mr Tillerson reportedly opposed President Donald Trump’s decision to move the US embassy to Jerusalem. The disharmony it has sowed in a volatile region justifies his stand. Following a cordial visit to Egypt on Monday, Mr Tillerson flew to Kuwait to attend a reconstruction conference which hopes to raise $88 billion to rebuild Iraq after its devastating war with ISIL. Despite the ruin inflicted by US-led airstrikes, Mr Tillerson will not pledge any money. Given that the US spent some $60bn to rebuild Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein, this decision is emblematic of America’s declining geopolitical authority.
This decline is perhaps most glaring when it comes to an emboldened Turkey. US-Turkey ties have been steadily deteriorating since 2016’s failed coup, for which Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan blames Pennsylvania-based cleric Fethullah Gulen. A recent US court case that implicated prominent Turkish officials in a conspiracy to help Iran evade sanctions further muddied the waters. Meanwhile a Turkish military offensive against Kurdish rebels in the northern Syrian city of Afrin – and potentially Manbij, where US troops are stationed – has caused significant disquiet in Washington. So too have Mr Erdogan’s overtures to Iran and Russia, whose regional ambitions do not align with those of the US. “We are urging them to show restraint,” said a State Department official last week. It is a task of considerable difficulty.
Mr Tillerson carries a heavy burden. Bringing Turkey to heel would test the most experienced of diplomats. But since his appointment last year, the business-minded Mr Tillerson has overseen the gutting of the State Department. The effects of mounting vacancies and resignations are starting to be felt in the department’s capacity to advance American interests. According to Democrats in the House foreign relations Committee, more than a hundred senior officials jumped ship last year. Mr Tillerson, whose own survival looks precarious, is not solely to blame. In her resignation letter last November, one official said the State Department had “ceded to the Pentagon our authority to drive US foreign policy, at the behest of the White House”. As David Rothkopf argued recently on these pages, American global influence is at its lowest since the fall of the Soviet Union. Into the vacuum a belligerent Mr Erdogan has lurched. While Mr Tillerson’s promise of $200 million in aid to Syria today was welcome, at a time when a speedy resolution is vital to alleviate suffering in Afrin and elsewhere, the US’s fading influence lends little hope that Mr Tillerson can bring one about.