This would not be a premiere, however, since Morocco and the United States have always had a strategic dialogue to address issues of mutual concern. Even if the two countries’ heads of State do not meet very often, contacts and consultations between the two countries are never disrupted and communication channels never closed.
Whether the challenge is the promotion of democracy and the rule of law, the advancement of the Middle East peace process, the struggle against terrorism or the enhancement of economic prosperity and sustainable development in the MENA region and in Africa, the two countries have shared strategic goals.
As put by Secretary of State John Kerry in remarks on the occasion of Morocco’s National Day (July 30), “when Morocco granted American merchant ships safe passage after the outbreak of the American Revolution, it signaled the beginning of a strong and enduring friendship… After more than 225 years of friendship and peace, we continue to work together to expand trade, promote stability in the region, and enhance mutual understanding between our nations…We look forward to building on our long history of relations as we work together to advance common goals.”
President Obama and King Mohammed VI, who will be meeting for the first time, will therefore discuss how the two states can work together to meet the economic and security challenges facing the Middle East and North Africa. They will also discuss political transitions in the region, where Morocco emerges as a peaceful model for change thanks to the democratic and economic reforms it embarked on years before the Arab spring.
The White House actually said in its statement that President Obama “looks forward to discussing a range of issues of mutual interest with King Mohammed VI, including support for Morocco’s democratic and economic reforms.”
Morocco’s democratic experience has often been described as a political model, especially after political uncertainty prevailed in the countries having been swept by the Arab Spring storms.
The Washington Post had entitled one of its analyses on Morocco “A model for the Middle East or an exception to the rule?” to this question, the answer given by many US officials, including former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, is: Morocco is a leader and a model in a region where the U.S. needs a strong, reliable and influential ally. For many analysts, Morocco is both a model for the rest of the Arab World and an exception. Morocco has opted for a multiparty system in the early days following its independence and has since organized many parliamentary and local elections with the participations of political parties from all trends. The country’s democratic process has been gradually expanded, its political diversity fostered and its civil society promoted, a process that was almost non-existent in the rest of the Arab World prior to the revolutions that toppled Tunisia’s Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak or Libya’s Mouammar Khaddafi.
The U.S. has repeatedly hailed the democratization process in Morocco and has praised King Mohammed VI for his various initiatives and especially for his quick response to his citizens’ calls for change when he enacted constitutional reforms that expanded the Parliament’s powers in 2011.
Since the advent of these revolutions and in view of the challenge of terrorism and Islamist extremism, Washington’s relationship with the North African country, which it has designated as early as 2004 a major non-NATO ally, has grown in importance.
In September 2012, the U.S. and Morocco launched a Strategic Dialogue — America’s first with a Maghreb nation — that offers the two States opportunities to strengthen their cooperation, sketches out an enduring framework for Washington and Rabat to cooperatively resolve regional issues and provides mechanisms to advance policies and programs throughout the region and elsewhere where both nations share common values, goals, and interests.
Choosing Morocco to initiate such a dialogue was not fortuitous. Morocco was selected because it was becoming a central player in America’s North African policy and in its wider strategic policy toward the Middle East. Moreover, Morocco was deemed a vital shield against the “arc of instability” stretching across Africa’s Sahara and Sahel region, and which threatens to transform the continent into a breeding ground for radical Islamist movements, spearheaded by Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and its North African affiliates.
The Joint Statement of the First Session of the U.S.-Morocco Strategic Dialogue held on September 13, 2012 in Washington had underscored that on security issues, the two nations would continue to share successful mechanisms for bilateral coordination, deepen this coordination in the criminal justice, non-proliferation, and counter-terrorism sectors and continue to cooperate to bolster democratic criminal justice institutions and to counter the threat of violent extremism in Morocco and in the region.
Both sides had also highlighted the importance and the challenges of expanding the bilateral cooperative relationship between the United States and Morocco into one that can augment security in the region and throughout the world.
U.S. and Moroccan interests actually clearly match when it comes to security and counterterrorism issues. As a matter of fact, since the terror attacks of 9/11, the U.S. has been relying on the North African country to address a broad set of security issues and terrorist threats that endanger the two countries and the whole region as well, and considers the kingdom as a strategic partner in the broader regional cooperation on the matter.
In a recent analysis on opportunities for closer cooperation between the two countries, entitled “Partners Against Terror: Opportunities and Challenges for U.S.-Moroccan Counterterrorism Cooperation” the “Center for Naval Analysis” pointed out that the centuries-old relationship existing between the two countries has become particularly strong in areas of military and law enforcement cooperation and that their partnership in the promotion of the rule of the law in the region and in struggle against terrorism and religious extremism threatening the Maghreb and Sahel region grew more robust.
The Obama Administration, which focused much attention over the past few years on counterterrorism in Asia, being somewhat “gun shy” of expanding engagement with Sahel countries in their struggle against terrorism, leaving the task to France and to its other allies, can find in Morocco a reliable partner that can help Washington understand and deal with threats in the region and resume its strategic and diplomatic role in the continent.
In its paper, the “Center for Naval Analysis” also mentioned the fight against cyber-criminality and terrorism in the maritime environment as other areas of prospective counterterrorism collaboration between the United States and Morocco.
“The U.S. sees the cyber domain as an important component of its countering violent extremism efforts, and Morocco has expressed interest in expanding bilateral cyber cooperation… So it would be worthwhile for the United States and Morocco to begin a discussion of the broader framework for cyber cooperation sooner rather than later,” the CAN underlined.
Regarding counterterrorism in the maritime environment, the center stated that “the Moroccan government has expressed its interest in contributing to collective counterterrorism efforts in the Straits of Gibraltar, such as its commitment to support OPERATION ACTIVE ENDEAVOR.”
The think tank went on to state that “Morocco has developed significant expertise in the development and expansion of “rule of law” in under-governed spaces, and has become a leader within the Global Counterterrorism Forum (GCTF) in promoting the rule of law as a pillar of international counterterrorism efforts.”
According to the Center, “there are several locations around the world, most notably in Middle Eastern, African, and/or Muslim countries, where Moroccan expertise—and perhaps practitioners and trainers—in rule of law matters could become a “force multiplier” for U.S. or international efforts to expand rule of law in under-governed regions.”
Another commentator, Reva Bhalla, who is vice president of Global Analysis at Stratfor wrote this week that “Morocco is a strategic and oft-overlooked ally of the United States that embodies many of the traits that Washington hopes to engender in the Middle East.”
Whether the challenge pertains to how to trigger a workable democratization process in the Middle East or to how to stage an efficient struggle against terrorism in the MENA region and in Africa, Morocco offers valuable models and alternative approaches that have so far proved efficient and that entitle the Kingdom to help build up America’s long term security.
