Aftandilian Interviewed on U.S.-Saudi Relations
Gregory Aftandilian, Lecturer at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, was recently interviewed for a story on the current state of United States-Saudi relations including the U.S. response to the killing of Jamal Khashoggi.
Aftandilian was quoted in a November 19, 2018 article entitled “The CIA’s Conclusion On Khashoggi Was Not Surprising,” in the Arabic language journal Sharq wa Gharb (East and West).
Aftandilian’s comments from the article:
“Trump, bucking the conclusions of his own intelligence community, does not want to pin the blame on Khashoggi’s murder on Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman because he continually wants to tout the fact that the bilateral relationship brings economic benefits to the United States. Middle East experts inside and outside of government believe that such an operation could not have taken place without an order from the crown prince. This is not the first time, nor will it likely be the last time, that Trump has gone against the intelligence community. The Khashoggi murder suggests that Saudi authorities are paranoid about dissent and are willing to act in very disturbing ways.”
“It showed that the Saudi government was paranoid about dissent and that Khashoggi somehow represented a threat to the kingdom. And even though in the overall scheme of things, he was just one journalist and one dissident, the Saudi authorities seem to have amplified the threat and acted in a way that is very disturbing.”
“I think from Trump’s perspective, he wants to maintain the U.S.-Saudi relationship including the arms sales, which is worth billions of dollars. Therefore, he’s very reluctant to pin the blame on the crown prince. So even though he has called what happened to Khashoggi as “despicable”, and has used other words to describe the killing, he still has not come to the same conclusion as the CIA has.”
“I think that is because he wants to protect US equities with Saudi Arabia. And this is not the first time he has gone against his intelligence community, and it may not be the last time either. The Trump administration sanctioned some people that the Saudi government says were responsible, but Trump himself and Bolton, the National Security Adviser, both said that there is no direct link to Mohammed bin Salman on the Khashoggi affair. I think the reasons are because of the economic and strategic ties to the kingdom that, of course, go way back.”
Aftandilian spent over 21 years in government service, most recently on Capitol Hill where he was foreign policy adviser to Congressman Chris Van Hollen (2007-2008), professional staff member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and foreign policy adviser to Senator Paul Sarbanes (2000-2004), and foreign policy fellow to the late Senator Edward Kennedy (1999).