SECTION 907: A DANGEROUS ANACHRONISM

It has become a well-established tradition for the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, to grant regular interviews to local television channels. These discussions are comprehensive, encompassing a review of past achievements, the outlining of future objectives, and a penetrating analysis of the situation both within the country’s borders and on the international stage.

The opening days of 2026 were no exception to this trend. The Head of State once again provided an extensive interview to local media outlets, during which he addressed a wide array of pressing subjects. Among these was the urgent necessity of repealing Section 907 of the United States Congress's Freedom Support Act, an amendment originally adopted in October 1992 that prohibits any direct assistance from the American government to Azerbaijan.

"Naturally, the application of this amendment against us was a profound injustice," President Ilham Aliyev underlined. "Section 907 was passed in October 1992, yet by that time, our territories were already under occupation, with Shusha and Lachin having been seized. The Armenian state had already committed the Khojaly genocide—a war crime against our people—and the occupation of Azerbaijani lands effectively rendered any talk of a blockade against Armenia entirely moot. Indeed, how could one even speak of a blockade when Armenia’s borders with Georgia and Iran remained open, and the Turkish-Armenian border did not close until 1993? Consequently, any claims of a blockade were utterly groundless. Nevertheless, the Armenian lobby, alongside senators and congressmen under its influence, pushed through this unjust amendment".

President Ilham Aliyev further noted that "currently, American-Azerbaijani relations have reached a new height, and we naturally expect Congress to repeal this unjust and obsolete amendment, which today appears entirely absurd".

A historical perspective

To better understand the current circumstances, we must look back to 1992, shortly after the collapse of the USSR. Although it was politically fashionable in certain circles to blame the West for this disintegration, the dissolution of the Soviet Union actually came as a complete surprise to the United States. Such a turn of events was seemingly unexpected there; for a considerable time, Western analysts could not reach a consensus on whether to treat the former Soviet republics as fully independent states or whether they would soon coalesce into a new confederation or even a federation.

Nonetheless, the United States eventually recognised the independence of the former union republics and passed the Freedom Support Act—a law designed to provide various assistance programmes to the newly independent states. These initiatives covered a broad spectrum of public life, ranging from healthcare and education to the control of weapons of mass destruction. As many experts later admitted, Washington was far less concerned with the humanitarian situation than it was with securing materials that could serve as the foundation for chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons.

This was no mere scaremongering about a nuclear bomb being built in a garage. During the Soviet era, a network of sanitary-epidemiological stations had been established across the entire USSR, where samples of particularly dangerous viruses and bacteria were stored. These could easily have served as the basis for creating biological weapons—even if rudimentary, they posed an immense danger, particularly in the hands of various extremist groups. Specialists pointed out that it was in these former republics that Soviet military experiments with biological weapons had been conducted. While this was never officially acknowledged, rumours had leaked, including into the open press.

In October 1992, that Armenian lobbyists, including Joe Biden, pushed the amendment through Congress. This blocked aid to Azerbaijan based on the authors' claim that Baku was maintaining a blockade of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. One of the initiators of this amendment appeared to believe, quite naively, that Nagorno-Karabakh was not part of Azerbaijan but rather an independent state.

In the early 1990s, Azerbaijan was in desperate need of assistance. Twenty per cent of its territory was occupied, and approximately one million people had been turned into refugees. Poverty and unemployment rates reached 50%, the treasury was effectively empty, and foreign exchange reserves were non-existent. Yet, Azerbaijan received no aid from the United States. Washington had, in effect, imposed sanctions not against the aggressor, Armenia, but against the victim of that aggression, Azerbaijan.

The situation began to shift later on. Certain non-governmental organisations provided assistance to Baku, and in 1994, Azerbaijan signed the Contract of the Century involving American companies, who subsequently launched their own aid programmes. By 1996, Azerbaijani diplomacy managed to breach the wall when the US Congress adopted the Wilson Amendment in January of that year. Named after Democratic Congressman Charles Wilson, this provision granted the US President the authority to provide direct assistance to Azerbaijan if they concluded that the aid provided through NGOs was insufficient. This allowed several programmes to be unblocked. The author of these lines personally remembers meeting the first aircraft carrying American government humanitarian aid at Baku airport and later travelling to the USA under one of the newly opened programmes. Nevertheless, the broader discriminatory policy persisted.

The Afghan fracture

A turning point arrived in 2001, following the most significant terrorist attacks in history on 11 September, when hijacked passenger jets struck the Twin Towers in New York. One plane was flown into the Pentagon, and another crashed in Pennsylvania, resulting in nearly 3,000 fatalities. Washington formed a coalition for a military operation in Afghanistan, where the mastermind behind these attacks, Osama bin Laden, was hiding. For the first time in its history, NATO invoked Article 5 of the Washington Treaty.

Against this backdrop, Azerbaijan’s logistical support for the military operation in Afghanistan became a critical factor. US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld arrived in Baku to negotiate this cooperation. It was then that Azerbaijan voiced its condition: the repeal of Section 907. While a full repeal was not achieved, the amendment was entirely suspended. Consequently, NATO received the necessary logistical support; the air corridor through Azerbaijan operated at full capacity throughout the entire military campaign in Afghanistan.

However, the tide eventually turned. In 2020, Joe Biden was elected President of the United States, leading an administration that would later be described as the "most pro-Armenian in history". The most defining moment of this administration was the withdrawal of troops—or more accurately, the ignominious flight—from Afghanistan. The United States departed, abandoning its Afghan allies to their fate—those who, over twenty years of NATO presence, had believed a new era was dawning and that the Taliban would never return.

Dramatic footage of the chaos at Kabul airport, where people desperately tried to board planes, was seen around the world. The Americans evacuated even their service dogs, yet did not see fit to extract the Afghans with whom they had collaborated. American journalists drew parallels to the flight from South Vietnam. Azerbaijani and Turkish peacekeepers stationed in Afghanistan were among the last to leave, as it was they who had ensured the security of the airport during those final days.

As soon as the withdrawal was complete and the need for the air corridor through Azerbaijan had vanished, the Biden administration immediately reactivated Section 907. From a political perspective, this was a remarkably short-sighted move. From a human perspective, it was, to put it mildly, lacking in integrity.

Old amendments amid new realities

It is difficult to argue with those who believe that the significance of Section 907 for Azerbaijan today is vastly different from what it was in the early 1990s. Baku has successfully implemented its oil and gas strategy, building a resilient economy on that foundation. Today, Azerbaijan does not require external financial aid. Furthermore, our country now implements its own humanitarian projects abroad, including as part of its policy within the Non-Aligned Movement.

However, the symbolic weight of this amendment remains. Within Section 907, Azerbaijan stands accused of conducting a so-called blockade against Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, despite the fact that no such blockade existed at the time. As Ilham Aliyev reminded us in his interview, Armenia’s borders with Iran and Georgia were open when the amendment was passed.

Today, the conflict is over. The parties have initialled a peace treaty. Azerbaijan has lifted all restrictions on the transit of goods for Armenia through its territory. Several shipments of Kazakh and Russian grain have already passed through, with Armenian ministers personally meeting the trains. Azerbaijani petrol is now being supplied, with long queues across the border. Yet, the amendment remains in force. Its continued suspension implies that Azerbaijan is still considered guilty, and that the punishment has merely been paused.

The experience of Joe Biden’s presidency and his administration demonstrates that the amendment can be reactivated at any time. Given this context, it is hardly surprising that Azerbaijan is seeking not another suspension, but the full repeal of this discriminatory and unjust Section 907. Today, relations between Baku and Washington are on the rise, and a corresponding legislative initiative has already been introduced in Congress. There is a genuine chance that the repeal of the amendment will become a reality. The only question is whether Washington possesses the political will to see it through.