President Joe Biden has not yet set conditions for U.S. military and security collaboration with Morocco as it relates to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for the fiscal year 2024.
Previously, this aid had been contingent upon Morocco’s commitment to engage in negotiations with the Polisario on the future of the Sahara.
This development–or rather, lack thereof–comes a little over a year after the November, 2022 departure of James Inhofe, former chairperson of the Senate Armed Services Committee and noted lobbyist for Algerian interests. The Trump administration, incidentally, had recognized Morocco’s full sovereignty over the Sahara territory in a quid pro quo for Morocco’s official recognition of the State of Israel, as agreed upon in the Abraham Accords.
The NDAA includes a section specifically reserved for Morocco. It highlights the Tripartite Agreement between Morocco, the United States, and Israel, signed in Rabat on December 22, 2020.
NDAA 2024 also emphasizes that the Israel-Morocco agreement enabled the intelligence community to obtain new and valuable information on national intelligence priorities.
The National Defense Authorization Act for the fiscal year 2022, approved just before James Inhofe’s departure, had stipulated that none of the funds authorized by the Act or made available to the Department of Defense for fiscal year 2022 could be used by the Secretary of Defense to support the participation of the Moroccan military forces in any multilateral exercise administered by the Department of Defense unless the Secretary determines–in consultation with the Secretary of State–that Morocco is committed to seeking a mutually acceptable political solution for the Sahara.