HistoryDiff

The United States served as one of three co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group — alongside France and Russia — and positioned itself as a principal mediator in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict since the early 1990s. However, when Azerbaijan launched its 44-day military offensive in autumn 2020, U.S. diplomacy proved unable to broker a timely ceasefire. The November 2020 armistice was ultimately mediated by Russia, a diplomatic setback that critics viewed as a diminution of American influence in the South Caucasus. The Biden administration subsequently sought to reinvigorate U.S. engagement, hosting Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers for direct talks.

Domestic politics have long shaped the American approach to this conflict. The Armenian-American community, numbering approximately 1.5 million, exerts considerable political influence through organizations such as the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA). In April 2021, President Biden formally recognized the Ottoman-era massacres of Armenians as genocide — the first U.S. president to do so — over the objections of NATO ally Turkey. Congressional measures including Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act have historically restricted direct military aid to Azerbaijan, reflecting the clout of the Armenian-American lobby, though presidential waivers have often circumvented these restrictions.

The September 2023 Azerbaijani offensive, which lasted less than 24 hours and precipitated the mass exodus of more than 100,000 ethnic Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh, drew sharp condemnation from U.S. officials and English-language media. Secretary of State Blinken described the humanitarian situation as "deeply concerning" and called for protected corridors for civilians. While the Biden administration stopped short of labeling the events ethnic cleansing in official statements, numerous members of Congress and prominent human rights organizations did so explicitly. Major outlets including the BBC, New York Times, and The Guardian ran extensive coverage framing the exodus as a humanitarian catastrophe and a failure of the international community to protect a minority population.

Underlying the American position is a fundamental tension between stated commitments to human rights and democracy and the geopolitical and energy calculus of the South Caucasus. The Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline makes Azerbaijan a strategically valuable energy partner — particularly after Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine heightened European demand for alternative gas supplies. This structural dependency has constrained Washington's willingness to impose meaningful costs on Baku, illustrating the recurring challenge of reconciling human rights advocacy with alliance management and energy security in U.S. foreign policy.

Perspectives Summary