Joe Biden accidentally stops a war in Southeast Asia for Trump

The war between Thailand and Cambodia has ended, sponsored by U.S. talks

At some point between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. on a weekday, when President Joe Biden’s mind was at peak performance, that is, peak for Biden, the former president signed an order nominating Edgard D. Kagan to be the ambassador to Malaysia. No, actually, it was a Sunday, Palm Sunday, 2023, to be exact, when Biden signed the order, but I think it was probably the autopen. Kagan was confirmed by the Senate that November, and between President Donald Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, nobody ever got around to nominating a MAGA person to represent America in the former British colony known for its natural beauty and delicious food. It’s a good thing, too.

Putrajaya is the Federal administrative capital of Malaysia.

Edgard Kagan is a Yale graduate, and a member of the Senior Foreign Service—a career officer. In addition to his post as Ambassador to Malaysia, he was a Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for East Asia and Oceania for the White House National Security Council during Biden’s term. It’s unclear whether Kagan still holds that position under Trump, but one thing is true: Ambassador Kagan has some serious foreign policy chops.

It seems he just stopped a war. Maybe single-handedly. But of course, Trump and Rubio will get the lion’s share of the credit, per usual.

Last week, clashes along a disputed border between Thailand and Cambodia turned bloody, claiming at least 34 dead. The U.N. Security Council convened, and heard both Cambodian and Thai officials hurl accusations at each other, while nothing got accomplished. The conflict seems to have some personal aspects to it. Former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra has been a longtime pal of Hun Sen, who de-facto still runs Cambodia, but their relationship has soured recently.

Over the weekend, President Trump and Secretary of State Rubio both called leaders in Thailand and Cambodia, trying to ease tensions. Trump flat out threatened not to negotiate trade deals with either country until they stopped fighting. But the devil is always in the details, and the details means sitting the leaders down to talk. Both sides said they were on board with a cease-fire but worried the other side would break it. So despite calls from Washington, and tacit agreements for a cease-fire, the fighting continued.

Enter Ambassador Kagan. As Ambassador to Malaysia, he arranged, along with Malaysian officials, for acting Thai Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai to sit down with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet. The meeting took place in Putrajaya, the seat of government in Malaysia, the federal capital just south of the metropolis of Kuala Lumpur.

The U.S. attended the talks in Putrajaya as a participant and sponsor, with Kagan the highest ranking U.S. official. The People’s Republic of China sent officials to act as observers. The fighting has continued sporadically, but having the two leaders together, shaking hands, may be the best sign of a lasting cease-fire and an end to the violence.

I’m not saying that had the Trump administration replaced Kagan that the talks would have failed, or never been held. Perhaps China might have taken a firmer stance and been the primary sponsor. Maybe Thaksin and Hun Sen would patch up their former friendship, which ended over Thaksin’s daughter, former Thai prime minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra’s call to Hun Sen this year that has erupted into a scandal, forcing her out of politics.

A photograph provided by the Cambodian government showed Cambodia’s former Prime Minister Hun Sen meeting with Thailand’s former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, in a location given as Bangkok in 2024. Hun Sen via Facebook

The New York Times reported on the ruptured long friendship:

Mr. Thaksin said, “I was wrong to trust someone like Hun Sen.” Upon learning that 12,000 Cambodian troops had been mobilized to the border last month, he called the translator who had facilitated his daughter’s call with Mr. Hun Sen and told him: “You tell your boss — our children are prime ministers of both countries. Are we going to war now?”

These kinds of things are too specialized, too personal, and too fragile to be left to political amateurs and Washington lounge lizards. Trump can’t fix a betrayal of a decades-long relationship with a phone call and threats about withholding trade deals. Rubio can’t get the two countries on the same page when their own power brokers are gearing up for war.

It is the fine foreign service professionals like Ambassador Edgard Kagan who contribute understanding, relationships, and delicacy to put a meeting between the heads of state of two warring countries using a moderator like Thailand as the setting.

It’s a good thing that some of Biden’s autopen-signed nominated ambassadors and officials are still around. Not that all of Trump’s appointments are terrible—but let’s assume there’s likely nobody better to be the ambassador to Thailand right now and anyone Trump might have nominated and the Senate confirmed would not have been as adept at pulling off what Kagan did.

Whether the cease-fire will take hold and stop the violence from escalating again is anyone’s guess. However, as I said, there’s value to having the two leaders shake hands and sit together. Let’s see Steve Witkoff or Ambassador Mike Huckabee get that to happen with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas. Or let’s see Witkoff get Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sit down with Vladimir Putin. Those are much more difficult (if not impossible) tasks.

But just for your information, Kagan is not the only Biden appointee who has served as ambassador under Trujmp. Lynne Tracy was the ambassador to Russia, a career foreign service officer who served as Trump’s ambassador to Armenia, and was nominated for the Moscow post in 2022 by President Biden. She left her post in late June. There are at least 50 other foreign service career officers and others who Biden appointed as ambassador who still serve under Trump. Since assuming office in 2025, President Trump has appointed 61 ambassadors.

In Kagan’s case at least, I’m thankful that he could help stop a war.

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