Biden needs to bring the Middle East closer to Asia

U.S. president's July trip to Israel and Persian Gulf offers a prime opportunity

Gedaliah Afterman and Narayanappa Janardhan

June 9, 2022 05:00 JST

The Negev Summit held in Sde Boker, Israel, on March 28: The growing distance between the U.S. and its regional allies was on display. © Reuters

Gedaliah Afterman is the head of the Asia policy program at the Abba Eban Institute for International Diplomacy at Reichman University (IDC Herzliya), Israel. Narayanappa Janardhan is a senior research fellow at the Anwar Gargash Diplomatic Academy in Abu Dhabi and nonresident fellow at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington.

After Washington declared a pivot to Asia with fanfare in 2011, it is ironic that U.S. President Joe Biden, who was then vice president, took 18 months to finally visit Japan and South Korea last month.