A number of grinding crises around the world have slipped from the headlines in these first tumultuous months of 2026, as the conflict in Iran continues to dominate the news.
While America remains focused rightly on the American people, and other nations must also bear burdens, America has long been the moral voice on the global stage, highlighting the world’s forgotten people and helping resolve simmering conflicts.
While each continent is facing its own challenges, three conflicts in particular deserve attention.
Sudan: A humanitarian crisis with regional ripples
Sudan is in the midst of one of the world’s worst humanitarian catastrophes. The war between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces has displaced millions and exacerbated famine conditions due to years of fighting, coupled with escalated conflict since 2023.
Reports of documented atrocities are persistent, including widespread sexual violence and deliberate targeting of ethnic communities. A recent United Nations fact-finding mission highlighted what it described as “hallmarks of genocide” against the Zaghawa and Fur communities.
Almost two-thirds of Sudan’s population is expected to require basic humanitarian assistance this year to survive, according to another U.N. report in January. Amid ongoing violence, supplied aid and resources are often destroyed through looting.
Sudan is at the crossroads of the Red Sea, the Sahel, and the Horn of Africa, and, as this conflict ripples outward, it is fueling mass migration and destabilizing fragile neighbors. Extremist networks and malign external actors are also exploiting these roiling crises for human, weapons and drug trafficking and to export terror regionally, and globally.
The United States has a deep history in facilitating and supporting peace efforts in Sudan, from the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement to civilian transitions in 2019 and 2022. As Sudan’s people suffer again under this new wave of violence, the United States can proactively deepen our engagement and our commitment to protecting vulnerable populations and holding bad actors accountable for their actions, stabilizing the region.
Haiti: Small steps forward after cycles of pain
Seven hundred miles from Florida, Haiti is in the throes of an economic collapse, cycles of political uncertainty, and pervasive gang violence. The uphill path toward stability is daunting, though recent reports have indicated some progress in reclaiming parts of the capital of Port au Prince that had been ruled by armed groups as well as a political framework prioritizing elections and effective governance.
Steady, sustained, and focused American leadership, coordinated with regional partners, is key to ensuring Haitians have the tools and support that they need to reestablish control of their country.
Again, America’s moral responsibilities are clear: The Haitian people are suffering. However, it’s equally critical to emphasize that Haiti’s instability doesn’t stay in Haiti. This conflict has driven more than 1.4 million people to flee and has empowered transnational criminal networks.
Haiti is our neighbor, and the United States has a long record of engagement. U.S. leadership in Haiti can move to a sustained supportive partnership, grounded with regional partners by continuing to support credible political processes, backing appropriate security assistance, and streamlining humanitarian support.
Burma: U.S, values and interests align
Five years after the coup that ousted the democratically elected government led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma remains in the grip of civil war, with civilians paying the steepest price.
The U.N. has estimated that about 3.6 million people have been displaced, with military airstrikes continuing, forcing millions of people into refugee camps, facilities that have been impacted by U.S. foreign assistance shifts.
Burma is strategically situated between India and China, straddling trade corridors. China, in particular, benefits from a partnership with Burma’s military leadership, which provides it access to critical minerals. Beijing’s influence in Burma also weakens U.S. leadership in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and dampens nascent democratic aspirations in the region.
American involvement in Burma is centered on our belief in democracy. In 2015, the people of Burma mobilized peacefully and voted for change. Despite setbacks there and elsewhere, when democratic movements are crushed and the world shrugs, authoritarian power prevails.
America’s refocus on this ongoing and longstanding crisis, sustaining and enforcing sanctions and providing lifesaving humanitarian assistance across borders, can make a profound difference for this emerging democratic movement.
The crises in Sudan, Haiti, and Burma have different geneses, but similar catastrophic outcomes on the lives of people, regional stability, and issues that inevitably reach our own shores – irregular migration, crime, and trafficking; disrupted trade; empowered malign actors; and eroded norms.
There are other underreported crises that deserve mention. The simmering unrest in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the plight of women in Afghanistan, the profound fragility in the Sahel, even Russia’s war against Ukraine. Each of these underscores a basic truth: U.S. disengagement creates a vacuum.
The moral argument is not naïve idealism but rooted in the recognition that American power carries weight. When we elevate neglected crises, we mobilize institutions, allies, and resources.
American leadership doesn’t require unilateral intervention: It benefits allies and partners who share in sustained diplomacy and place coordinated pressure on those prolonging and benefitting from violence.
Sustained engagement means America can avoid serving solely as a crisis responder when our interests are threatened. As we have been across successive U.S. administrations, American should be a moral leader.
