Biden: US committed to Middle East allies
US President Joe Biden told an Arab Summit on Saturday that the United States would remain firmly committed to its allies in the Middle East and was "not going anywhere" as he lobbied for a regional security alliance that would integrate Israel. Biden, who began his first trip to the Middle East as president with a visit to Israel, presented his vision and strategy for America's engagement in the Middle East. He also sought to use the gathering in Jeddah to integrate Israel as part of a new axis largely driven by shared concerns over Iran. "We believe there's great value in including as many of the capabilities in this region as possible and certainly Israel has significant air and missile defence capabilities, as they need to. But we're having these discussions bilaterally with these nations," a senior administration official told reporters. Biden has focused on the planned summit with six Gulf states and Egypt, Jordan and Iraq, while downplaying a meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. That encounter drew criticism in the United States over human rights abuses. "No country gets it right all the time, even most of the time, including the United States. But our people are our strength. Our countries with the confidence to learn from the mistakes grow stronger," Biden said. "So let me conclude by summing all this up in one sentence. The United States is invested in building a positive future in the region, in partnership with all of you, and the United States is not going anywhere." Biden had said he would make Saudi Arabia a "pariah" on the global stage over the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents, but ultimately decided US interests dictated a recalibration, not a rupture, in relations with the world's top oil exporter. The US leader said he had raised the Khashoggi killing with the Saudi crown prince on Friday and that to be silent on the issue of human rights is "inconsistent with who we are and who I am". The crown prince told Biden that Saudi Arabia has acted to prevent a repeat of mistakes such as the killing of Khashoggi but that the United States had made similar mistakes, including in Iraq, a Saudi official said. (Reuters)