President Obama made a path-breaking overture to the Muslim world with his 2009 speech in Cairo. His address set the tone for a new model of engagement between America and over one billion Muslims across the planet. Nearly four years later, the Arab revolutions and the much-discussed strategic ‘pivot’ to Asia appear poised to test that engagement. But the pivot should not be meant to reflect a diminishment of our interests in the region—defined by history, geostrategic interests, and our deep commitment to Israel. Moreover, the transition and turbulence in the region should be seen as opportunities, not obstacles. I believe President Obama will continue to deepen America’s relationship with the Middle East and the Muslim world more broadly, guided by the bold tenets of his 2009 Cairo speech.
Over the past four years, Partners for a New Beginning, which I chair at the Aspen Institute, has been operationalizing the ideas laid out in Obama’s Cairo speech. Under the thoughtful leadership of Madeleine Albright, Walter Isaacson, and Mukhtar Kent, PNB has built trusted networks in ten countries composed of emerging leaders, entrepreneurs, and social activists from across the Muslim world. These networks have enabled PNB to establish valuable public-private partnerships which are locally owned, locally driven, and sustainable.
PNB partnerships are the on-the-ground embodiment of President Obama’s Cairo vision. Through sustained U.S. public-private sector investment, they target the root cause of unrest in the region—decades of political and economic disenfranchisement—by ensuring that key sectors of the populations, such as women and youth, become true stakeholders in their societies. At a time when the U.S. government is at a logjam, public-private partnerships are a paradigm shift in the toolbox of diplomacy; they are good for U.S. business interests, effective for the communities they serve, and they contribute to meaningful education and job creation. PNB is based on mutual responsibility and respect, and it reflects the shared interests we have in a dynamic Middle East economy that creates sustainable jobs and pathways for its people to benefit. Whether through matching U.S. investors and Palestinian entrepreneurs, or forging true bonds between American multinational companies and their regional counterparts, PNB has already proven the value proposition of President Obama’s Cairo vision. The groundwork has been laid; now the U.S. needs to leverage its investment.
It is easy to look at the Middle East today and entertain calls for disengagement. But if the U.S. had turned a blind eye to the wreckage of postwar Europe, what would the world look like today? Since day one, President Obama has been deeply been engaged in this region. He is now poised to benefit from that long-standing engagement to chart new territory. True partnership demands patience, forbearance, and commitment. The people of the Middle East have undertaken unimaginable risks to chart their new beginning. Sustained American partnership will help ensure that those risks were not taken in vain. We will continue to build effective and strong bridges and seek to fulfill President Obama’s call to action for, “A New Beginning.”
Toni Verstandig is Chair of the Aspen Institute's Middle East Programs and Senior Vice President at the S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace.
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza.
This article was originally published in the Diplomatic Courier's January/February 2013 print edition.
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U.S.-Middle East Relations: Reinvest in Partnership with the Muslim World
January 28, 2013
President Obama made a path-breaking overture to the Muslim world with his 2009 speech in Cairo. His address set the tone for a new model of engagement between America and over one billion Muslims across the planet. Nearly four years later, the Arab revolutions and the much-discussed strategic ‘pivot’ to Asia appear poised to test that engagement. But the pivot should not be meant to reflect a diminishment of our interests in the region—defined by history, geostrategic interests, and our deep commitment to Israel. Moreover, the transition and turbulence in the region should be seen as opportunities, not obstacles. I believe President Obama will continue to deepen America’s relationship with the Middle East and the Muslim world more broadly, guided by the bold tenets of his 2009 Cairo speech.
Over the past four years, Partners for a New Beginning, which I chair at the Aspen Institute, has been operationalizing the ideas laid out in Obama’s Cairo speech. Under the thoughtful leadership of Madeleine Albright, Walter Isaacson, and Mukhtar Kent, PNB has built trusted networks in ten countries composed of emerging leaders, entrepreneurs, and social activists from across the Muslim world. These networks have enabled PNB to establish valuable public-private partnerships which are locally owned, locally driven, and sustainable.
PNB partnerships are the on-the-ground embodiment of President Obama’s Cairo vision. Through sustained U.S. public-private sector investment, they target the root cause of unrest in the region—decades of political and economic disenfranchisement—by ensuring that key sectors of the populations, such as women and youth, become true stakeholders in their societies. At a time when the U.S. government is at a logjam, public-private partnerships are a paradigm shift in the toolbox of diplomacy; they are good for U.S. business interests, effective for the communities they serve, and they contribute to meaningful education and job creation. PNB is based on mutual responsibility and respect, and it reflects the shared interests we have in a dynamic Middle East economy that creates sustainable jobs and pathways for its people to benefit. Whether through matching U.S. investors and Palestinian entrepreneurs, or forging true bonds between American multinational companies and their regional counterparts, PNB has already proven the value proposition of President Obama’s Cairo vision. The groundwork has been laid; now the U.S. needs to leverage its investment.
It is easy to look at the Middle East today and entertain calls for disengagement. But if the U.S. had turned a blind eye to the wreckage of postwar Europe, what would the world look like today? Since day one, President Obama has been deeply been engaged in this region. He is now poised to benefit from that long-standing engagement to chart new territory. True partnership demands patience, forbearance, and commitment. The people of the Middle East have undertaken unimaginable risks to chart their new beginning. Sustained American partnership will help ensure that those risks were not taken in vain. We will continue to build effective and strong bridges and seek to fulfill President Obama’s call to action for, “A New Beginning.”
Toni Verstandig is Chair of the Aspen Institute's Middle East Programs and Senior Vice President at the S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace.
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza.
This article was originally published in the Diplomatic Courier's January/February 2013 print edition.
