The first visit to Washington by Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud as the Saudi monarch comes as the kingdom faces multiple difficult challenges. The Sept. 4 summit will do little to address Saudi Arabia's deep problems, because they are impervious to an American solution.
Salman's top priority is to win the Saudi-led war in Yemen that Riyadh portrays as a decisive response to Iranian aggression and subversion. The king has been praised at home for developing the Salman Doctrine, which emphasizes self-reliance on security issues. The kingdom will henceforth aggressively and decisively defend its interests without depending on American leadership. The Saudis will lead coalitions of like-minded Sunni states to counter Iranian and other Shiite enemies. The doctrine is much more robust than the very cautious and risk-averse approaches characteristic of Salman's predecessors and a response to perceived American indecisiveness toward Iranian gains in Syria and Iraq.