Effective Diplomacy

Posted: December 24th, 2015

By James Jeffrey

Ambassador James F. Jeffrey joined the Wilson Center in December 2020 as Chair of the Middle East Program. Ambassador Jeffrey served as the Secretary’s Special Representative for Syria Engagement and the Special Envoy to the Global Coalition To Defeat ISIS until November 8, 2020. He is a senior American diplomat with experience in political, security, and energy issues in the Middle East, Turkey, Germany, and the Balkans.

Victory against ISIS requires not simply more military muscle but diplomacy. On the Iraq front that means complementing more effective military and political action in Sunni areas with diplomacy involving Iran, Turkey, the Arab states and Baghdad.

The Obama Administration’s policy to defeat ISIS is the right mission, but defeating it requires three elements: offensive combat; a “day after’” plan for immediate relief, security, and governance in areas liberated, and longer term political solutions in Syria and Iraq that will defuse internal conflicts involving Sunni Arabs and Kurds; and diplomatic arrangements to facilitate the first two components.

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