Commercial satellite images show that China has upgraded its naval base in Djibouti nearly a decade after it first opened. Even before enhancing the facility, the Chinese army was already using lasers to blind American military pilots landing at the airstrip they share with the country’s small international airport. China will not allow U.S. ships to resupply deployed naval vessels from either Djibouti or Mombasa.
Just 37 miles from Djibouti is Somaliland, a former British protectorate which won brief independence before entering a voluntary but ultimately failed union with Somalia. For the past 35 years, Somaliland has operated as an independent and successful state while Somalia remains mired in corruption and terrorism. While Somaliland embraces Taiwan and Israel, Somalia doubles down on China and Turkey. Yet, even as the Houthis tighten the noose on the nearby Strait of Hormuz and piracy surges in the Gulf of Aden, the State Department blocks cooperation with Somaliland. Deputy Secretary of State Chris Landau’s excuse? Respecting the status quo.
The same holds true in Yemen. Yemen’s history as a unitary state is fleeting. For centuries, the region’s northern and southern portions governed themselves separately under various names. Nor did formal unity ever bring stability. At best, unity occurred at the point of a gun, with locals openly questioning how long the ceasefire would last. Driving from Aden to Sanaa in 1995, a year after a brief Yemeni civil war crushed southern attempts to reassert their statehood, I asked the southern taxi driver why anti-aircraft guns mounted on some buildings pointed north. His answer: We will need them again.
During the decade-plus fight against the Houthis, though, the only effective Yemeni army was the Southern Forces, which both the Saudis and the State Department sought to undermine for fear that they were secessionist. They might have been right, but Washington sometimes must make difficult decisions. In Yemen, the choice was stark: A unitary state under Houthi and Iranian control, or a divided or federal state with real southern autonomy. The greatest gift Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman and Secretary of State Marco Rubio gave Tehran was to choose the former.
Sometimes the betrayal is even worse. Diplomats urge former al Qaeda terrorist leader Ahmad al Sharaa to respect Syria’s religious, ethnic, and cultural diversity. Al Sharaa will tell the White House and State Department what they want to hear, but they ignore that the Kurds had already established such a rule. And while al Sharaa was beheading prisoners, the Kurds were fighting the Islamic State and al Qaeda groups at the behest of the U.S. government.
Nor were the Kurds alone. In Afghanistan, Trump and Biden administration special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad sold a fantasy that the Taliban could be an ally in the fight against terrorism. In reality, even while Khalilzad drank tea and later facilitated business deals with the radical group, the Taliban harbored the Islamic State and al Qaeda. Yet, to pursue the fantasy, the White House threw its Afghan allies under the bus. The Taliban have executed scores. Thousands are in exile, and many more are in hiding.
Even Republicans now join liberals to demand that President Donald Trump end so-called forever wars, but they ignore that adversaries also get a say. Retreating unilaterally does not open strategic choke points or end others’ willingness to nurture terrorists.
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Simply put, the United States cannot win its battles over freedom of navigation and counterextremism if it repeatedly rebuffs and betrays allies. Goods will only flow unimpeded through strategic chokepoints when the U.S. has partners that share its values.
The State Department should embrace those partners, even if it means recognizing Somaliland and South Yemen. Secessionist labels fall flat when aspirants for recognition of long histories of independence. Tunnel vision can be deadly, and so too is ignorance.
Michael Rubin is director of policy analysis at the Middle East Forum, a distinguished fellow at India’s Usanas Foundation, and a contributor to Beltway Confidential.
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[ H/T Washington Examiner ]
