Under the Biden administration, the US appears to have decided to play a greater role in international diplomacy and events happening around the globe than was the case under the Trump administration. Joe Biden, the new president of the US, has said that the war in Yemen must end and that the US will cease supplying weapons to the Saudi-led coalition which it has backed so far. This would be a step of enormous importance to the region, and especially to the people of Yemen, a land where an estimated 100,000 people have died since 2014 due to the war, many of them civilians, and many of them due to famine. There have also been deaths due to Covid-19 in the country aggravated by the fighting, which prevented relief efforts and healthcare from being offered on the scale that was needed. Yemen’s children are believed to be among the least nourished in the world and the misery of that stretch of territory is difficult to imagine.In this context, Biden’s decision comes as a welcome change in US policy. We can only hope that with the appointment of a special US envoy on Yemen, the promise made can be delivered on.
Biden has also spoken about other foreign policy issues, including a tougher approach towards Russia and a demand that dissidents like Navalny be freed and not harassed in any way. President Biden has also said the US will reconsider pulling out troops from Germany, the main core of the Nato force in the area, as Trump had said would be done. On a more positive note, Biden has said that 250,000 refugees would be allowed into the US, rather than the 15,000 Trump had spoken about. This again is important for people escaping conditions of poor economic disarray or other situations which put them or their families in personal danger due to government or criminal enmity of various kinds.We do hope that the US begins a more positive role on the globe, but does not stretch it to a point where it intervenes in various countries and tries to change events within them.
We have seen this happen in the past. Stopping the war in Yemen and backing away from supporting any of those who play a major role in it would be an extremely welcome decision. We hope other foreign policy steps, now that the US has decided to pay greater attention to foreign policy, will follow along the same lines and can benefit people around the world who have suffered as a result of policies supported by the US, which under the Trump administration focused mainly on its own domestic affairs and happenings within the US rather than the events going on around the world.
