AS Joe Biden prepares to enter the White House next month, one foreign policy item that should be on top of his agenda should be ending American support for the brutal Saudi-led war in Yemen. Riyadh intervened in the Yemeni theatre in March 2015 to push back the Iran-supported Houthis, who had swept into the capital Sana’a and had overthrown the Yemeni government. However, the Saudi intervention has been a humanitarian disaster, with the Houthis firmly ensconced in their positions and the hapless people of Yemen having to constantly dodge death from all sides. Moreover, the civil war and foreign intervention have caused conditions to deteriorate further in Yemen — the poorest country in the Arab world — with decimated infrastructure and a state of chaos prevailing across the country. According to Doctors Without Borders the country’s health system has collapsed. And while all sides in the conflict have indulged in atrocities, the Western-backed coalition has bombed schools, funerals and markets, resulting in an unacceptably high civilian death toll. Much of this turmoil could be prevented if the US, UK and other Western states pulled back their support for this failed intervention.

Mr Biden has said he wants to review support for the Yemen war, though it should be noted that American assistance for the Saudi campaign began when he was vice president during the Obama administration. Donald Trump had only continued to support the conflict Mr Obama and Mr Biden had got the US involved in. However, perhaps time and circumstances have taught Mr Biden that this war is morally reprehensible, and must end. Many observers have noted that once Western support dries up, it will be very difficult for Riyadh to continue the war effort. Already the UAE, which was at the forefront of the campaign along with the Saudis, has distanced itself from this intervention, maintaining a largely symbolic role. It is time Joe Biden does the right thing and convinces Riyadh that the Yemen war cannot continue.

Published in Dawn, December 18th, 2020