The shift in American priorities regarding Libya was laid bare on 18th February 2026, during the UN Security Council’s 60-day briefing. Libya observers including myself, expected the usual diplomatic platitudes from the US State Department, the microphone was instead taken by Massad Boulos.

As the Senior Advisor to President Trump for Arab and African Affairs, Boulos’s appearance was a stark departure from protocol. He is not a career diplomat from “Foggy Bottom,” but a direct extension of the West Wing. By having Boulos deliver the US comments following the briefing—rather than the U.S. Permanent Representative—the Trump administration signalled that the “Libya File” has been officially annexed by the White House.

This is more than a mere change of face; it represents a potential fundamental shift in both doctrine and priority. Boulos utilised his time at the horseshoe table to center ‘military and economic integration’ and ‘commercial priorities’—a sharp pivot away from the State Department’s long-standing, and largely failed, fixation on a purely political roadmap and immediate elections.

For the first time in years, Washington is no longer treating Libya as a democratic experiment to be facilitated by Foggy Bottom, but as a strategic asset to be managed directly from the President’s inner circle.

For the first time in years, Washington is no longer treating Libya as a democratic experiment to be facilitated by Foggy Bottom, but as a strategic asset to be managed directly from the President’s inner circle.

Notably, Boulos offered a brief, almost perfunctory nod to his country’s support for the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL). However, the substance of his subsequent remarks stood in stark contrast to the mission’s established roadmap. What Boulos presented was effectively a new, unilateral American initiative—one designed to ‘fix’ Libya by absorbing the UN’s stagnant efforts into a more pragmatic,........

© Middle East Monitor