On Wednesday, September 13, 2023, Todd Robinson, US Deputy Secretary of the International Bureau of Narcotics and Law Enforcement (INL), declared on the sidelines of an event at the Wilson Center in Washington, that US officials are "circling the globe" to recruit countries to join a multilateral force to intervene in Haiti, noting that foreign governments say they will not commit to the effort until the United Nations Security Council approves the mission, which until now has been blocked in the Council by Russia and China who are reluctant to such an intervention.

Todd Robinson recalled that the United States was taking urgent steps to establish the mission and drafted a resolution with Ecuador that he hopes will receive a positive vote from the Security Council soon...

"There should be no illusions about how urgently we, the U.S. government, see this [...] We are moving as fast as we can," added Robinson. "Will we get it done in time ? That’s what we’re trying to do."

The Deputy Secretary declined to say whether the United States expects Kenyan forces to be on the front lines of the fight, saying the nature of their role will be decided by Kenya, Haiti and the United Nations.

However, Robinson opposed the idea that the United States would have no direct role in the mission, after Washington searched for months for another country to lead it.

"The notion that we won’t be involved is also wrong [...] There are areas where we absolutely will be directly involved in this mission. But again, we have to be cognizant of history. We have to be cognizant of what other priorities are out there. And this is not one country’s issue to solve. This has become and has been an international crisis for a long time, and it’s going to take an international response [...]"

SL/ HaitiFree