The U.S. Azerbaijan relationship remains important to both countries, but it is time to reevaluate and update how they engage with each other. The Second Karabakh War is the most visible of the reasons for such a reassessment, given Azerbaijan’s military successes, Russia’s headline role in securing the November 2020 agreement that halted the fighting, and the need to undertake the extremely difficult work of avoiding a new war and building peace. But China’s high profile economic, diplomatic, and security activities across Eurasia, coupled with the results of the November 2020 election in the United States, have also significantly altered the diplomatic environment. Lastly, multinational challenges—such as the economic, social, and other ramifications of the COVID 19 pandemic or the realities of climate change—make the need for revaluation, dialogue, and mapping out new directions in the two countries’ relations even more apparent.

Basic, long-standing factors in the two countries’ engagement certainly remain valid, but that does not obviate the need for tough, critical analysis of where their dealings stand and for recalibrating how to engage in the time ahead. Sticking to how Baku and Washington have worked together or talked to each other in the past serves neither country, given changing regional and global pictures. While conducting such an analysis presents challenges, developing new patterns in the two countries’ relationship presents a strategic opportunity to build up ties that can become both more mutually beneficial and effective.

This report was originally published here.