To reach a solution for Syria

US Secretary of State John Kerry decided that he should also be talking to Jordan, alongside Russia, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, if peace in Syria were to be given a chance.

Kerry announced recently that he intended to engage a number of countries in an effort to find a common denominator that would help settle the chronic conflict in Syria.

Jordan, Syria’s southern neighbour, has received countless numbers of Syrian refugees over the past few years.

Having to host more than one million and a half Syrians puts a strain on the Kingdom and makes it one of the countries most affected by the problems in Syria.

Officials in the Kingdom, Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour more recently, have been calling for sustained funding for the refugees in Jordan.

The cost of upkeep of Syrian refugees is huge, and taxing the country’s already scarce resources.

Just like Turkey, which is given huge funding by Europe to keep Syrian refugees from the shores of Europe, Jordan needs a similar treatment in order to be able to cater to the hundreds of thousands of refugees on its territory.

Moreover, it is not only the humanitarian dimension of the Syrian problem that makes Jordan an indispensable partner in the search for peace, but the security aspect as well.

The world, the two superpowers, the US and Russia, particularly, cannot rely on mere force to combat Daesh and other extremist organisations now rife in Syria.

There is need for a holistic approach to arrive at a solution in Syria and to fight radicalism in the region, one that Jordan has been suggesting all along.

The Kingdom, by virtue of its geographical position, principled position and for hosting a huge number of refugees, should be nothing less than a full partner in the search for a political solution to the Syrian conflict.