THE WHITE HOUSE —
U.S. President Joe Biden has an “extensive” agenda as he heads into a four-day trip to the Middle East, his National Security Council coordinator told VOA on Tuesday.
John Kirby, the NSC coordinator for strategic communications at The White House, discussed the upcoming trip with VOA’s White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara.
“There's so much that needs to be discussed on this trip and the agenda is quite extensive, between going to Israel and furthering our defense partnership and reaffirming our ironclad commitment to Israel's defense to meeting with (Palestinian) President (Mahmoud) Abbas and to reaffirming our commitment to a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine,” said Kirby, the former Pentagon spokesperson. “And then of course in Saudi Arabia, where we will have bilateral discussions with King Salman and his leadership team.”
The following interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
John Kirby, thank you so much for joining VOA today. I'm going to start with the news of the day which is the killing of the ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) leader in Syria, Maher al-Agal. Can you explain or can you share any more of his identity beyond his nom de guerre. The Pentagon also said that he's one of the top five leadership in ISIS. What are the statuses of the other four?
Well, I don't get into intelligence issues. Obviously, we continue to be interested in degrading ISIS capabilities in Iraq and Syria, that remains a core function of U.S. military forces that are in those areas. This gentleman here was one of the top five. So he was right at the very senior echelons of the leadership and now that he's been taken off the battlefield, we know, based on his leadership and what he was focused on, that this will degrade ISIS capabilities. This will affect their ability to resource themselves to plan to organize and to conduct attacks.
Now moving on to the Middle East trip, this is a complicated trip for President (Joe) Biden. In Israel, he will be meeting a caretaker government. In Saudi Arabia, he will be meeting the leadership of a kingdom he was characterized as having no redeeming values. Can you describe what would be the indicators of success for this trip, as well as the broader aim for the administration in the region?
There's so much that needs to be discussed on this trip and the agenda is quite extensive, between going to Israel and furthering our defense partnership and reaffirming our ironclad commitment to Israel's defense to meeting with (Palestinian) President (Mahmoud) Abbas and to reaffirming our commitment to a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine. And then of course in Saudi Arabia, where we will have bilateral discussions with King Salman and his leadership team.
Again, this (has been) a strategic partner for 80 years. The Saudi pilots flew with American pilots as they went after ISIS targets in 2014. Saudi sailors still today are sailing with American sailors in the Persian Gulf, trying to minimize the Iranians’ destabilizing activities there, in their maritime environment. They are a strategic partner. And there's a lot to talk about whether it's counterterrorism, whether it's certainly about the Iranian threat or the war in Yemen.
Now we're on our second extension of a truce in Yemen. Thousands of Yemenis now, lives have been saved because that war has stopped for the longest period of time in seven years. So that's significant. And of course, on his last day, he'll be sitting down with nine other leaders in the context of the Gulf Cooperation Council and, my goodness, there's a lot to talk about there. Again, counterterrorism and security but also economic security, energy security, food security and climate change. So, there's an awful lot on the table for the president. He's very much looking forward to this trip.
What are some of the signs of warming bilateral ties between Saudi Arabia and Israel that we can expect, whether it's during the president’s trip or beyond, in terms of steps towards normalization. Something that the administration can point toward normalization.
Well look, normalization is going to take some time, and clearly these are sovereign decisions that nations have to make. We support the Abraham Accords. We want to see a normalization proceed. We think that a more integrated Israel in the region is better for the region. It's certainly better for the Israeli people, certainly for their Arab neighbors, as well as our own national security interest. So that kind of process will take some time.