How
a nearly unknown businessman named Khaled al Ahmad became Damascus’
secret liaison to the West and quietly dealt Syria’s grinding war
to a close
by
Rania Khalek
Part
4 - Obscure origins
It
remains unclear clear how al Ahmad rose from relative obscurity to
become the devil’s advocate. I was told by multiple sources that
his ascent was a symptom of Assad’s frustration with the
inefficiency of his own system and with the dishonesty of his own
advisors. The Syrian leader began to circumvent the official chain of
command and appoint informal advisors who reported directly to him.
While it was unusual for Assad to select a 30-year-old man who was
not part of the security apparatus to be his secret representative
abroad, it appears that al Ahmad was elevated into the system by an
influential father. There is much confusion about his sect, but his
name and the fact that he is described as originally from Homs
suggest he is a Sunni Muslim, which surely helped him build bridges
with the opposition. While he does not seem to respect the system or
regime itself, according to those who have spoken to him, he is
staunchly loyal to the president as an individual and as the only man
who can guarantee the stability of the Syrian state and Syria’s
triumph over the crisis.
Said to
have studied aeronautical engineering, al Ahmad is also believed to
refer to the de-escalation process as a “soft landing” for Syria.
Thus in meetings with Western officials, including Americans, when
they would inevitably bring up the fate of Assad, al Ahmad is said to
have dismissed the issue out of hand. The ship of state could weather
a harsh storm, but under no circumstance would he allow it to crash
against the hard rocks of regime change.
Another
reason for al Ahmad’s emergence appears to be that he is simply the
only man available for the job. Syria’s diplomats and intelligence
officials lack the flexibility and finesse to talk to Westerners
without sounding like ossified Baathist ideologues. Here too Assad
demonstrated a clever approach. Knowing that his traditional
representatives would alienate their interlocutors, he needed someone
who could speak for him and cast him in a favorable light. Al Ahmad,
say those who know him, is an avid consumer of books and articles in
English and Arabic. WHile he is loosely associated with the Syrian
nationalism of the SSNP, he has demonstrated a pragmatic approach
shorn of ideological bonds. His sensibilities stand in strong
contrast to Syrian government officials who have relied on local news
that reinforces their worldview and hardens their outlook.
The
withdrawal of international diplomats from Syria also meant that
government officials only talked to a handful of emissaries from
places like Algeria, China, Russia, North Korea and Cuba. One
European diplomat compared al Ahmad to Ronaldo, the soccer striker
who carries the otherwise unimpressive Portuguese national team on
his back.
Al Ahmad
appears not to be on a sanctions list, allowing him frequent travel
to Europe, where he has met with officials in multiple governments.
Members of the armed opposition have met him in different European
cities including Berlin, Geneva and Oslo. On top of bringing Steve
Simon and other Western officials to Syria, he’s brought opposition
leaders to Damascus, both civilian and military.
Al Ahmad
was frequently sought out by insurgents and opposition members
seeking to make a deal with the government. He was also regularly
invited to international conferences in Oslo, Moscow and elsewhere to
explain the government point of view in logical and measured terms.
He also provided special briefings for UN special envoys to Syria
Ibrahimi and De Mistura, as well as Jeffrey Feltman, the former State
Department official who until recently headed the UN’s Department
of Political Affairs.
Al
Ahmad’s years of outreach and marketing on behalf of the government
didn’t lead to radical change in the policies of the enemies of
Damascus, but they prevented more radical policies from being
adopted. Indeed, his efforts helped normalize the idea of
de-escalation, reconciliation, local ceasefires, and decentralization
as alternatives to endless war. In Western capitals divided in
debates between Syria hawks and those who were more skeptical of
regime change, al Ahmad offered the pragmatists crucial arguments to
help prevent the pursuit of maximalist policies. His work was thus
crucial in persuading an Obama administration that knew de-escalation
was the only solution but couldn’t admit it for political reasons.
Likewise,
when NGOs and humanitarian organizations needed advice, visas or a
guide for working in Syria, al Ahmad often facilitated their work.
And when when international media touched down in Damascus, he
encouraged them to portray daily life in government-held areas and
generate more balanced coverage. Many Western officials would deny
meeting al Ahmad, even as they desperately sought him out. For them,
he was a trusted guide to Damascus and a counter-weight to the
rumor-mongering and propaganda spread by their Turkey-based
colleagues, who had “gone native,” along with a cartoonishly
biased Western media that has relied exclusively on a carefully
cultivated network of opposition activists.
Source,
links, additional info:
Comments
Post a Comment