WAGING PEACE

commit human rights abuses.

“The West should care about the hypocrisy that the Middle East represents in its commitment to human rights,” Roth insisted. As many Western capitals seek to ostracize powers such as China and Russia over their human rights records, it would behoove them to practice what they preach, he emphasized. Western governments, Roth said, are “basically giving [Chinese President] Xi Jinping a gift through their hypocrisy in the Middle East by allowing him to say, ‘You talk about human rights, but when you have any kind of interest there, whether it’s oil, or migration or just protecting Israel, human rights go out the window.’”

Leaning into the “great power” competition could be a somewhat cynical but perhaps successful strategy for activists working to steer Western policy in a more moral direction, Roth surmised. “I think we need to push that,” he said. “I don’t promise it’s going to work, I don’t think it’s a panacea, but I do think that it gives us an opportunity to address the blatant hypocrisy, the blatant inattention to human rights in the Middle East that has so characterized U.S. and Western foreign policy toward that region.”

Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), assessed why the U.S. often takes positions in the Middle East that both belittle human rights and the American national interest.

“The forces that incentivize support for the dictatorships and apartheid governments in the Middle East are just too strong,” Whitson said. Foreign leaders, she noted, employ “lobbyists who have infiltrated our government to curry favor with, to incentivize [and] frankly to bribe U.S. government officials.”

While lobbying is deeply rooted in American politics, Whitson said preventing former U.S. government officials from accepting jobs with the defense industry or foreign governments would stymie the influence of human rights abusers. “If we really want to tackle U.S. support for dictatorial governments in the Middle East… we have to curb the influence of the lobbyists and we have to curb the corruption of our own government officials and ban them from ever going to work for lobbyists in the defense industry or foreign governments,” she said.

Abdelwahab El-Affendi, president of the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, noted that repressive governments eventually collapse, often in a violent manner. If the U.S. desires stability and security in the region, it should realize that its authoritarian allies are paving the way toward long-term unrest and uncertainty by suppressing democracy and free expression. The region, he said, is akin to a boiling cauldron being forcibly held shut. “What you will get is an explosion,” he warned. —Dale Sprusansky Protest Condemns Attacks on Afghanistan’s Hazaras

On Oct. 8, members of the Afghan community held a rally in Washington, DC’s McPherson Square to protest the attack on the Kaaj Educational Center in the heavily Hazara-populated Dasht-e-Barchi district of Kabul, Afghanistan. The Sept. 30 suicide bombing killed 53 people—most of them young women seeking an education—and injured an estimated 110 others.

No group has claimed responsibility for the massacre, although both Islamic State Khorasan and the ruling Taliban have a history of attacks against the Hazaras, including on their mosques and hospitals. A predominantly Shi’i ethnic group, the Hazaras comprise about 15 percent of Afghanistan’s Sunni-majority population.

Carrying signs reading “Stop Hazara Genocide” and “Stop Killing Hazaras,” the group of several hundred marched the short distance to Lafayette Square outside the White House. Speakers called on the United Nations to investigate the atrocities committed against the Hazara population. Across the globe on the same day, rallies were held in 92 cities in 64 countries calling on the international community to recognize the attack as part of an ongoing genocide. —Elaine Pasquini

Rift Emerges in Worsening U.S.Saudi Relations

The U.S.-Saudi Arabia relationship took another step in the wrong direction in mid-October when OPEC Plus, a group of 23 oilexporting countries led by Riyadh and Moscow, announced significant oil production cuts. Top U.S. officials reacted with swift anger, accusing Saudi Arabia of deliberate economic sabotage and aiding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. President Joe Biden announced a strategic review of U.S.-Saudi ties and vowed that Riyadh would face “consequences” for the decision. In response to Washington’s rebuke, Saudi Arabia issued a statement saying the multilateral decision to cut two million barrels per day of oil was “based purely on economic considerations.”

To assess what the latest drama por-

STAFF PHOTO PHIL PASQUINI Protesters in Washington, DC decry the regular violence against Afghanistan’s Hazara community, on Oct. 8, 2022.

President Joe Biden (l) meets Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the Al‐Salam Royal Palace in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on July 15, 2022.

tends for U.S.-Saudi relations, the Middle East Institute (MEI) held a virtual panel discussion on Oct. 14.

Bruce Riedel, director of the Intelligence Project at the Brookings Institution, noted President Biden took OPEC Plus’ decision personally, given his controversial direct diplomacy with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) this summer. Domestic critics accused the president of being too deferential to MBS in an effort to fight inflation. “In very sharp terms, this decision to cut oil production is a personal humiliation for the president,” he said.

Riedel believes the president has good reason to be angry with MBS, describing the production cut as the latest “reckless and dangerous” move made by the de facto leader of Saudi Arabia. He said blocking arms sales, ceasing the transfer of spare military parts and declining to shield MBS from lawsuits pertaining to the slaying of journalist Jamal Khashoggi are among the retaliatory moves the White House is likely considering.

While Washington values its strategic partnership with Saudi Arabia, the relationship “matters an awful lot more to the Saudis,” Riedel insisted. He doubts other powers, such as China or Russia, would be more willing than the U.S. to back Riyadh in a confrontation with Iran, or that any other power could sufficiently replace Saudi Arabia’s U.S.-manufactured weapons.

Asked whether the U.S. ought to placate the 37-year-old MBS in order to ensure amicable Saudi-U.S. relations over the next few decades, Riedel said the U.S. should appreciate its leverage and also not assume MBS will lead Saudi Arabia for the foreseeable future. “This is a country whose future is very much in doubt today, I would say more than at any time,” he said. He noted that MBS has enemies within the royal family who are opposed to him holding the keys to the Kingdom into perpetuity.

Joanne Held Cummings and Kevin Donegan, both distinguished senior fellows on national security at MEI, were much more receptive to Saudi Arabia’s official position regarding the current diplomatic rift.

Cummings noted that Saudi Arabia did vote to condemn Russia at the U.N., and that Riyadh has a legitimate national interest in high oil prices. “I think Saudi Arabia can definitely make the argument that they have a domestic imperative to maintain a stable budgetary base,” she said.

Cummings also questioned how much the move will help Russia make more money from its oil, given that the country is mostly selling its output to China and India at dramatically reduced prices due to sanctions. She said she’s “not sure you can make the economic argument” that OPEC Plus’ move tangibly benefits Russia.

Donegan cautioned against being too dismissive as to how the U.S. benefits from its relationship with Saudi Arabia. He cited cooperation regarding Iran, terrorism and the free flow of commerce as dynamics that Riyadh’s critics should not flippantly jeopardize.

“What we have to look at as we go forward is what do we lose in those agenda items when we’re talking about separating from Saudi or reducing our partnership with them,” Donegan cautioned. He advised policymakers to “take a breath” and “look at this as broadly as we can.” —Dale Sprusansky Algeria’s Hirak Movement: A Success or Failure?

On Sept. 22, George Mason University’s Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution hosted a webinar to discuss Algeria’s Hirak movement for political change, which was formed in February 2019 following then-President Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s announcement that he would seek a fifth term. After weeks of mounting pressure from Hirak, Bouteflika resigned in April of that year. In a subsequent election characterized by extreme apathy, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, the military’s preferred candidate, was elected president. Hirak protesters responded by again taking to the streets of Algiers and other cities in the North African country of 43 million.

While Algeria would appear to be a country ripe for political change due to its “corrupt and stagnant bureaucracy, chronic economic problems, semi-autocratic rule, increasingly restless young population, high unemployment [and] arrogant out-of-touch leadership…there are complicating factors” preventing change, said Stephen Zunes, professor of politics and international studies at the University of San Francisco.

He cited history as a particularly significant factor tempering radical change in Algeria. Hirak’s commitment to non-violence, its moderate demands and persistence in the face of repression are commendable, Zunes noted, but many Algerians remember the civil war of the 1990s and fear that “greater openness [of the political process] could lead to a return to either violence, in-

ALGERIAN PRESIDENCY/ANADOLU AGENCY VIA GETTY IMAGES

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune (l) salutes the Algerian army during a military parade in celebration of the 60th anniversary of the country’s independence from France, in Algiers, on July 5, 2022.

stability or the election of a conservative Islamist government,” he said.

Ultimately, Zunes believes both Algerian citizens and their leaders understand some sort of transformation of the country’s politics must take place. “I think the desire for change, the need for change, is obvious enough and I think the Algerian leadership, despite everything, is pragmatic enough that they realize they can’t hold off the floodgates forever,” he stated. “I would [expect to] see a more gradual kind of [change], but it’s not going to be exclusively top-down; it’s not going to be exclusively bottom-up. It’s going to be both.”

Hamid Lellou, CEO of RI-SE (Reaching Independence Through Social Engagement) and a Middle East and North Africa analyst with close ties to activists in his native Algeria, said the situation on the ground remains too fluid to definitively judge Hirak’s impact. “Three and a half years later, Hirak has not succeeded, but it hasn’t failed either,” he opined.

Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime senior fellow Raouf Farrah said one positive result of Hirak is that it inspired a new generation of activists and political leaders to pursue collective action. “It brought so many fights for democracy and rule of law in Algeria into one movement, which has been massive, peaceful and national,” he pointed out.

“The peaceful element of Hirak…is a testament to the strength and the desire of the Algerian people for a better future,” said moderator Andrew Farrand, a non-resident senior fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Middle East Programs.—Elaine Pasquini Can Afghanistan Become Self-Sufficient?

The Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft hosted an online discussion on Aug. 29 to assess Afghanistan’s ability to become less dependent on international aid amid its dire humanitarian and economic crises.

One year after U.S.-led coalition troops left Afghanistan, the United States remains the leading donor of humanitarian aid to the Afghan people, having provided more than $774 million over the past 12 months. However, American sanctions against the Taliban and Washington’s decision to freeze most of Afghanistan’s central bank holdings are simultaneously stymying the country’s development.

“We have an unprecedented sanctions situation in which a group that was designated as a terrorist group is now the de facto government,” observed Adam Weinstein, a research fellow at the Quincy Institute.

Jordan Kane, a senior analyst for the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), said it’s difficult to overstate the magnitude of the human suffering in Afghanistan. In January, the U.N. announced two appeals for Afghan aid that totaled more than $8 billion, one of which was the largest appeal for a single country in U.N. history. The World Food Program forecasts that almost 19 million Afghans will face “acute food insecurity” in the coming months, she added.

For the economy to improve, Haroun Rahimi, an assistant professor of law at the American University of Afghanistan, said the country must find a way to be part of the international community.

The world is walking a tightrope trying to contribute to a prosperous Afghanistan while not permitting the country to become

“a successful emirate” for the Taliban, he said. The Taliban is also walking a tightrope between not breaking its ties with al-Qaeda while also trying to gain the acceptance of the international community, he added.

Rahimi pointed to the Taliban’s apparent opposition to educating women as an obstacle to both obtaining foreign resources and facilitating organic economic growth. “The Taliban have chosen to isolate themselves [on the international stage] by not moving forward on girls’ education,” he said. “They are also harming their own country by not developing half their population.”

According to Graeme Smith, a senior consultant for the International Crisis Group, the Taliban are interested in economic recovery, but only “on their own terms.” There are ways in which the Taliban are trying to sort of “duct tape things back together even though the country does remain under a lot of pressure,” he said. “About one-third of the GDP has disappeared since this time last year.”

Amid this “grim new normal,” Smith said there are “glimmers of hope.” According to the latest World Bank update, “government revenues for the current year have now surpassed government revenues for the same period last year…in part because the Taliban have cleaned up corruption massively.”

In addition, the CASA-1000 electrical power project currently under construction connecting energy-rich Central Asia with energy-poor South Asia will likely result in “tens of millions of dollars pouring into the Taliban treasury,” Smith explained. Importantly, this revenue will not be subjected to sanctions. “These fees are legitimate due to [U.S.] General License 20, which allows certain fees relating to commercial transactions, such as customs duties, taxes and licensing.”

While there are reports that the Taliban government is less corrupt than the previous Afghan government, Tara Moayed, who worked in Afghanistan from 2015 to 2019 as a social development consultant and adviser to the Ministry of Finance, said the Taliban has a transparency issue. “The key question is where is the money being spent,” she said. “The Taliban has not been willing to be transparent about its finances and where the money is going, which is a problem.”

Parts of the previous system did work and are worth preserving, she insisted. Successes in Afghanistan over the past 20 years include healthcare, community development and education, she said. “It would be a huge loss for Afghanistan to lose the capacity to deliver those services going forward,” Moayed warned. —Elaine Pasquini

India, Israel, Kashmir and Decolonization Efforts

Dr. Ather Zia, an associate professor in the Department of Anthropology and Gender Studies at the University of Northern Colorado, delivered a virtual lecture on the current political strife in Indian-controlled Kashmir for the Institute for Palestine Studies on Aug. 29. She elucidated how India has maintained a unique neocolonial attitude toward Kashmir since the 1947 partition of British India.

After 1947, the Indian government worked with client politicians in Kashmir to grant the region special status in the Indian constitution, allowing Kashmir to maintain control over its local affairs and elections. This move boxed out Pakistan, which also sought control over the region. A war broke out between India and Pakistan over Kashmir, resulting in both countries gaining control over separate parts of the territory as part of a ceasefire agreement.

This post-colonial quest for control of Kashmir ignored an important fact, Zia said: “Kashmiris were at the time in favor of independence—and still are.”

However, the Indian government has claimed since 1947 that the Kashmiri people are content living under Indian control, and the world has largely accepted this narrative, Zia noted. It’s time, she said, for the voices of Kashmiris who have long desired independence to finally be heard in India and around the world. She suggested that those interested in justice begin reading Kashmiri writers for an unfiltered insight into what those living in Kashmir think and desire. While India has maintained close control over Kashmir for decades, it dramatically intensified its crackdown in 2019, when it formally revoked Kashmir’s special status and autonomy through a constitutional amendment. As a result, Indian exploitation of land and resources has increased, and many local activists in Kashmir have become silent out of fear of sedition charges. “Inside Kashmir, people are taking great risks to write, to read, to research,” Zia noted. The current reality is proof that Kashmir remains stuck in a

YAWAR NAZIR/GETTY IMAGES

colonial system, as it faces a government that exploits its resources and imprisons activists, Zia emphasized.

Zia pushed back against the common Indian claim that Kashmir—which is majority Muslim—is a breeding ground for violence and terrorism and thus requires a military presence. The hackneyed notion that Islam equals terrorism has been “easily imposed on Kashmiris” to justify New Delhi’s occupation and exploitation of the region, she said.

In addition to simply fighting for their basic rights, Zia said Kashmiris are also beginning to insist that centuries-old paradigms about the conflict, established by “retreating [British] colonists,” be rethought. Notably, she pointed to the fact that independence was never put on the table by the British. This, she said, has “completely undermined” the Kashmiri resistance by forcing residents to choose either Pakistan or India. It’s time to “divest of all of that baggage and really think in decolonial terms about the future,” she said. “We are looking too much into a past that we should not be considering because it hasn’t really served the region.”

Zia resisted making far-reaching comparisons between Israel and India’s neocolonial ambitions, but noted the two countries have enjoyed a high level of political cooperation. In fact, Israel recently transferred surveillance technology that India uses in Kashmir, including the Pegasus spyware. Nevertheless, Zia believes India’s attitude toward Kashmir stems from its own unique brand of colonialism, which does not explicitly resemble Israel’s policies toward Palestine. “To think about the Israelification of Kashmir would not be doing justice to either of the two struggles,” she said. “India has its own brand of settler colonialism in Kashmir.”

She said one common strain between Israel and India is that both countries use their democratic identity to hide and obfuscate the heavy-handed tactics they deploy against minorities and those living in areas they occupy. “Indian neocolonialism has weaponized democracy to invisibilize the Kashmiri situation,” she said. —Zakaria Clark-Elsayed Washington, DC’s National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations (NCUSAR) and Anera hosted an Oct. 4 virtual program on “Restoring Hope Amid Crisis: Responses to the Economic Collapse in Lebanon.”

According to Human Rights Watch and the United Nations, 80 percent of Lebanese do not have access to basic rights including health care, education, adequate housing and electricity. Anera, which has provided humanitarian assistance and sustainable development to refugees in Palestine, Jordan and Lebanon for 54 years, is working to address this dire situation. Last year alone, the NGO delivered $50 million for medical aid and community programs in Lebanon.

Despite Lebanon’s myriad problems, there is reason to have hope, said Samar El-Yassir, Anera’s country director for Lebanon. “I think as long as we exist…there is hope in this hopeless situation,” she said. While the Lebanese people have long demonstrated their strength, stamina and intelligence, “unfortunately, we have bad leaders and we are not very fortunate with our neighbors as well,” she added.

The devaluation of the currency means that “suddenly you find…your salary is only worth 10 percent of what it used to be,” ElYassir explained. A $1,000 a month salary is now worth less than $100. “This compromises the ability of a family to live in dignity, to afford food, medicine or paying rent,” she noted. In order to have reliable electricity, people depend on generators, which are very expensive. “To receive power for only 10 hours a day you must pay $100 a month,” El-Yassir pointed out, making it unaffordable to the average family.

Aside from basic aid, Anera has assisted with several forward-looking, sustainable initiatives, such as green energy projects. They have also helped establish recycling programs, which provide an income for residents of local communities and help reduce waste. “This is a win-win situation where we are able to show hope in a situation of darkness,” El-Yassir explained.

However, maintaining new “clean” systems is not always easy. Lama Ghaddar, Anera’s program manager in Lebanon, helped launch a desperately needed community-based solid waste program in 2017. But when the economy collapsed in 2019, municipalities ran out of resources to manage the system on the local level, she said, and now the project is a low priority.

As Anera’s education program manager, Leen Ataya oversees projects in five regional offices across Lebanon that provide technical and vocational training in the areas of hospitality, construction, information technology and health care. Since

Anera has been operating in Lebanon for so many years, “we know what families want, what they need,” she said. “We meet with the youth, their parents and the community members…to maintain their interest in the educational programs.”

Basic literacy initiatives to improve youth reading, math and other skills are a top priority. “We give them life skills, positive leadership and apprenticeship opportunities that are paid so they can have handson experience, which may enable them to get a [job] at a small or medium enterprise,” Ataya said.

To wrap-up the program, El-Yassir called for continued support for Lebanon from the diaspora, the U.S. Congress and USAID. “Lebanon has fallen and we need to help pick it up and help support its people,” she said. “Coming back to hope…we see with help from Anera we’re not only filling basic needs, we are helping to spread hopefulness and using the crisis as an opportunity to advance the message of hope.” —Elaine Pasquini Middle East Institute’s Oman Library Reopens

Diplomats, scholars and community members gathered at the Middle East Institute (MEI) on Sept. 27 for a reception celebrating the reopening of its Oman Library, a premier resource for literature and information on the Middle East in Washington, DC.

The library, housing a collection of 20,000 books and maps in multiple languages—including more than 1,500 rare tomes—had been closed for two years due to renovations and the COVID-19 pandemic. The library is now open to the public on weekdays, and its online catalog is always available.

“We highly value the work of the Middle East Institute, its members and staff to forge change and better relations between the United States and our region,” said guest of honor Omani Ambassador to the U.S. Moosa Hamdan Moosa Al Tai. “The friendship of the Sultanate of Oman with the Middle East Institute is one that spans some 40 years.”

In 2011, the late Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said provided funding for extensive renovations, new furniture and other updates to the library, which was rededicated in 2013 as “The Oman Library at the Middle East Institute.” The Sultanate continues to provide support for the library and other programs at MEI. “We are pleased to support the library,” the ambassador told the guests. “It is our hope with the reopening…the library will continue to thrive.”

MEI president Paul Salem thanked the ambassador for his country’s continued support of the institute. “It’s a real honor to celebrate our relationship between MEI and the Sultanate of Oman,” he said. “It’s a very long relationship, a very deep relationship and one of which we are extremely proud. The jewel in our crown is the Oman Library and we are extremely grateful for the sup-

PHOTO SAMIR TWAIR

(L‐r) Dr. Mads Gilbert, Dr. Laila Al‐Marayati and Dr. Ramzy Baroud hold the Palestinian flag at Kinder USA’s 20th Anniversary Dinner in Los Angeles, CA, on Sept. 24, 2022. Kinder USA works to improve the lives of children in Palestine, Lebanon and elsewhere through development programs and emergency relief.

STAFF PHOTO PHIL PASQUINI