President Joe Biden tried to defend his upcoming trip to Saudi Arabia in an op-Ed published for the Washington Post.
He claims the trip will “strengthen a strategic partnership” insisting that “we have to engage directly” with Saudi Arabia and other countries in order to ensure that the U.S. is “strong and secure.”
“I know that there are many who disagree with my decision to travel to Saudi Arabia. My views on human rights are clear and long-standing, and fundamental freedoms are always on the agenda when I travel abroad, as they will be during this trip, just as they will be in Israel and the West Bank," Biden wrote.
Ironically Biden said that it is his job to the keep the country strong and secure, despite the U.S. being further from those words since he took office only 18 months ago.
“We have to counter Russia’s aggression, put ourselves in the best possible position to outcompete China, and work for greater stability in a consequential region of the world,” Biden wrote, adding “To do these things, we have to engage directly with countries that can impact those outcomes. Saudi Arabia is one of them, and when I meet with Saudi leaders on Friday, my aim will be to strengthen a strategic partnership going forward that’s based on mutual interests and responsibilities, while also holding true to fundamental American values.”
Critics have called out Biden’s planned trip to the Middle East following his comments during a 2019 White House campaign saying that he wanted to “make the nation a pariah” after human rights abuses in the country and the killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, contradicting what he has promised.