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The White House on Friday defended its decision to block a war powers resolution in the Senate that would have ended U.S. support for Saudi Arabia's war in Yemen, saying it would have impeded delicate diplomatic talks.
“We want to see that peace enduring and we want to see it sustainable. And so that's what we're talking about when we talk about the importance of making sure our diplomacy can succeed,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said in an interview with VOA.
U.S. support for a U.N.-brokered truce and peace talks has “achieved a measure of success,” Kirby said. “We want to make sure we can lock that in and keep that going forward.”
Earlier this week, the administration clashed with Bernie Sanders over the resolution put forward by the Vermont independent senator that would have banned U.S. support for Saudi-led offensive operations in its war in Yemen. Facing intense opposition, including a veto threat from President Joe Biden and a lack of support from his Senate colleagues, Sanders withdrew the resolution and agreed to negotiate further with the White House.
“I look forward to working with the administration who is opposed to this resolution and see if we can come up with something that is strong and effective,” Sanders said. “If we do not, I will be back.”
Administration officials have declined to elaborate on what they seek in negotiations with Sanders.
Yemen’s civil war began in 2014 when Houthi insurgents – Shiite rebels backed by Iran – took over the capital, Sanaa. Beginning in March 2015, with logistical and intelligence support from the Obama administration, a coalition of Gulf states led by Saudi Arabia launched a campaign of economic isolation and airstrikes against the Houthis, in effect turning the conflict into a Sunni-Shia proxy war between regional powers.
According to U.N. data, more than 370,000 people have died in the conflict, with 60 percent of the deaths resulting from indirect causes such as lack of food, water and health services.
Violence paused in April 2022 under the U.N.-negotiated cease-fire, which has largely held even though it expired in October – a factor in the administration’s opposition to the resolution, said Gerald Feierstein, who was U.S. ambassador to Yemen during the Obama administration.
“There has not been a Saudi military campaign in Yemen for eight months now. Why are we talking about a war powers resolution?” said Feierstein, now a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute.
Sanders and others have argued that there is no diplomatic progress on the ground and violence could erupt at any moment. Biden’s own special envoy to Yemen, Tim Lenderking, has warned that a failure to reach a new peace agreement would precipitate a “return to war.”
Still, James F. Jeffrey, a former U.S. special envoy to the global coalition to defeat ISIS and now chair of the Wilson Center’s Middle East Program, opposes the resolution, saying it would “play into the hands of the Houthis, who after all are aiding Iran, trying to overthrow the internationally recognized government.”
Some are unconvinced.
“The Houthis know quite well that an unprovoked attack on Saudi Arabia would undermine their argument internally in Yemen that they are fighting a foreign invader,” said Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. “Moreover, it would very likely change the calculations in Washington and restart U.S. support for the Saudis in what would be seen as a defensive war.”
Parsi added that even if taken at face value, the administration's argument about Houthi calculations “does not justify allowing Saudi Arabia to have a bigger say than Congress on whether the U.S. should or should not support Riyadh's war.”
In 2019, then-President Donald Trump vetoed a Yemen war powers resolution, a decision by officials who are now key players in the Biden administration.
Biden’s shift away from his to end “all American support for offensive operations in the war in Yemen” is emblematic of his evolving view on relations with the Saudi kingdom.
In November, the administration determined that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman should be granted immunity in a lawsuit over his role in the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, even though during his presidential campaign Biden vowed to make the kingdom a “pariah” for the slaying.