Obama to Visit KSA in March

Local Editor

The Washington Post daily reported Saturday that US President Barack Obama is preparing to visit Saudi Arabia in March for a summit with King Abdullah in a bid to smooth relations its Arab ally, said Arab officials briefed on the trip's preparations.

Relations between Washington and Riyadh have grown inflamed in the past year over the Obama administration's Middle East policies, particularly its outreach to Iran and its unwillingness to get involved militarily in Syria's civil war.

Members of Saudi Arabia's royal family have publicly accused the White House of working behind the kingdom's back in pursuing nearly two years of secret diplomacy with Iran.

Arab officials briefed on the coming summit, which was pulled together quickly in recent days, said it would be crucial to aligning American and Saudi policies as political change and sectarian strife continue to sweep the Mideast and North Africa. "This is about a deteriorating relationship" and declining trust, said a senior Arab official in describing the need for the summit.

The White House declined to comment. "We do not have any additional trips to announce at this time," said Bernadette Meehan, a National Security Council spokeswoman.

Obama's stop in Saudi Arabia will be added to a March trip to Europe already announced by the White House. He previously met King Abdullah in Riyadh in 2009 and in Washington in 2010.
Riyadh has pushed the Obama administration to intervene more aggressively in Syria.
Saudi Arabia and other states were particularly incensed by Obama's apparent U-turn in August on airstrikes. Saudi officials said they were blindsided by the decision and that Riyadh wasn't consulted by the White House beforehand. One Saudi official said King Abdullah will use the summit to better understand why President Obama changed tack.

"The meeting in many ways will get back to basics," said a Saudi official briefed on the meetings. "Why did Obama do it the way he did it?"
US officials have acknowledged the Obama administration didn't brief Saudi Arabia or the Zionist entity about the Iran talks in their early stages.

Still, Arab diplomats said Friday that trust needs to be rebuilt between Washington and Riyadh, and the March summit will be a key test.

Source: WSJ, Edited by website team