page_title: Abdullah II of Jordan
section_title: First year
hierarchical_section_title: Abdullah II of Jordan / Reign / First year
caption_attribution_description: English: His Majesty King Abdallah II (left), of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is welcomed by Secretary of Defense William Cohen (right) as he arrives at the Pentagon on May 20, 1999. The king will be greeted with a military full honor arrival ceremony on the Pentagon River Parade field. The two men will later meet to discuss a range of security issues of interest to both nations. DoD photo by R. D. Ward. (Released) 990520-D-9880W-038 العربية: صورة لجلالة الملك عبد الله الثاني-ملك المملكة الأردنية الهاشمية- عند وصوله إلى البنتاغون في 20 مايو 1999، حيث تظهر الصورة إستقبال الملك عبد الله من قبل وزير الدفاع ويليام كوهين لمناقشة قضايا ومواضيع أمنية
context_page_description: Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein has been King of Jordan since 7 February 1999. As a member of the Hashemite dynasty, the royal family of Jordan since 1921, Abdullah is a 41st-generation direct descendant of Muhammad.
  Abdullah was born in Amman as the first child of King Hussein and his second wife, British-born Princess Muna. As the king's eldest son, Abdullah was heir apparent until Hussein transferred the title to Abdullah's uncle, Prince Hassan, in 1965. Abdullah began his schooling in Amman, continuing his education abroad. He began his military career in 1980 as a training officer in the Jordanian Armed Forces, later assuming command of the country's Special Forces in 1994, and he became a major general in 1998. In 1993 Abdullah married Rania Al-Yassin, and they have four children: Crown Prince Hussein, Princess Iman, Princess Salma and Prince Hashem. A few weeks before his death in 1999, Hussein named Abdullah his heir, and Abdullah succeeded his father.
  Abdullah, a constitutional monarch, liberalized the economy when he assumed the throne, and his reforms led to an economic boom which continued until 2008.
context_section_description: As king, Abdullah retains wider executive and legislative authority than is normally the case for a constitutional monarch. He is head of state and commander-in-chief of the Jordanian Armed Forces and appoints the prime minister and the directors of security agencies. The prime minister is free to choose his cabinet. The Parliament of Jordan consists of two chambers: the appointed Senate and the elected House of Representatives, which serve as a check on the government. However, according to Freedom House, most seats in the House are held by pro-palace independents, and the crown's authority is such that it is extremely difficult for a party to win power solely via the ballot box. The Senate is appointed by the king, and the House of Representatives is directly elected.
   When Abdullah ascended to the throne as Jordan's fourth king, observers doubted his ability to manage the country's economic crisis—a legacy of the 1990 Gulf War. The king maintained his father's moderate pro-Western policy, supporting the 1994 Israel–Jordan peace treaty, and the royal transition prompted the United States and Arab states of the Persian Gulf to increase their aid. In the early years of Abdullah's reign, which then ruled over a population of 4.5 million, it was reported that he frequently went undercover to see Jordan's challenges firsthand. In 2000 he said about his incognito visits to government institutions, "The bureaucrats are terrified. It's great."
  Abdullah cracked down on the Hamas presence in Jordan in November 1999 after pleas from the United States, Israel and the Palestinian Authority. The crackdown occurred during peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. The king exiled four Hamas officials to Qatar and barred the group from political activity, closing their offices in Amman. The peace talks collapsed into a violent Palestinian uprising, the Second Intifada, in September 2000. As a result, Jordan faced dwindling tourism; tourism is an economic cornerstone of Jordan, a country with few natural resources. Abdullah reportedly spearheaded efforts to defuse the political violence.
caption: Abdullah's first visit to the United States as king in 1999
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