DAWN – In a televised speech days after the U.S. presidential election, the leader of Yemen’s Houthi militia, Abdul Malik al-Houthi, declared that the group’s attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and against Israel would persist until a cease-fire in Gaza and Lebanon is secured. “Neither Trump, nor Biden, nor any criminal in this world will be able to sway us from our firm and principled position,” he said.

While the rhetoric was not surprising, it was a reminder of the realities in Yemen that awaited either Kamala Harris or Donald Trump in the White House. With U.S. foreign policy once again at a turning point with Trump’s return to power, the prospect for a better U.S. approach to Yemen may be lost. What Yemen really needs is a strategy beyond rival power plays—a call for genuine partnership in the pursuit of peace and stability.

For too long, going back to Barack Obama’s presidency and extending through Trump’s first term and Joe Biden’s administration, the U.S. has seen Yemen almost exclusively through the lens of Read more…