Staff Reports
The Biden administration has decided to erase the $10 million bounty it had placed on the head of Ahmed Al-Sharaa, the leader of Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), an Islamist group that recently played a role in overthrowing Syria’s Bashar al-Assad. This baffling move followed a diplomatic rendezvous between U.S. diplomats and HTS in Damascus, leading one to wonder if the White House is now taking their cues from a bad spy novel.
In a gesture that could only be characterized as a strange form of diplomacy, the administration seems to believe that Al-Sharaa, after allegedly confirming that his merry band of terrorists would avoid posing a threat to America or its allies, deserves a ticket to freedom—without the pesky bounty on his head. It’s a classic example of today’s diplomacy: negotiating with the very individuals who have made America’s enemies list, masked as enlightened pragmatism. One can’t help but chuckle at the irony of a country once labeled a terror group suddenly rising to the status of negotiation partner.
HTS’s rise to prominence is no laughing matter, having recently seized control of much of Syria, following its inception as an al-Qaeda offshoot that graduated to its own terror brand in 2016. The group, which has a rather impressive résumé of violence, drove Assad out of Damascus earlier this month. Now, they’re sitting pretty, enjoying newfound legitimacy just because U.S. diplomats decided to play footsies at the negotiating table. Who needs to call for reinforcements when one can just sit down with the enemy over a cup of tea?
US Lifts $10M Bounty on De Facto Syrian Leader's Head. Here's What He Promised in Return.
https://t.co/XLj5guyp3w— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) December 24, 2024
Barbara Leaf, Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, characterized her chats with Al-Sharaa as diplomatic and productive. With a wave of the hand, she suggested they covered issues as diverse as women’s rights and community equality. All this while overlooking the fact that these individuals have spent years promoting anything but equality, especially if one’s definition includes human rights. It raises the question of whether diplomacy has turned into some sort of comedy skit, where the punchline is America cozying up to a group once relegated to the FBI’s most wanted list.
The cringe-worthy rationalization for lifting the bounty is that it might be “incoherent” to pursue criminal charges while engaging in such quintessential diplomatic dialogues. It seems the Biden administration would much rather play peacemaker with terrorists than uphold the principle of justice. Perhaps the noble pursuit of “deeds over words” rings a bit hollow when one side holds a bloody history while feigning moderation. The real question is, what does it say about American interests when engaging with a terror group suddenly becomes a diplomatic priority?
