America's 5 Strategic Challenges in Asia
By Walid Phares
Tuesday, 03 May 2022 10:18 AM
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By the beginning of Obama’s second term, Washington planned to gradually reposition U.S. military power from the Greater Middle East into the Pacific region as a projected (but remote) counterweight to China’s growing power. The move, however, aimed at setting up the U.S. presence in and around Australia, away from any hot spot theaters.
This shift came as rationale for the first withdrawal from Iraq towards the end of 2011, to prepare for an Afghanistan pull-out, and eventually for an Iran Deal, which was already under discussions. The Obama doctrine, introduced in June 2009 through his speech in Cairo and the letter to Khamenei, was to disengage from the Arab Muslim world and focus on the Pacific.
But the rapid withdrawal from Iraq and its penetration by Iran-backed militias, along with the subsequent ISIS invasion of parts of Syria and Iraq, forced the U.S. to again fight the new Jihadi threat in the region and postpone the Afghan pullout. Priority was, however, still given to the Iran deal, signed in 2015.
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READ MORE: https://www.newsmax.com/walidphares/asia-united-states/2022/05/03/id/1068250/
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Afghanistan: The challenge in Afghanistan is much heavier than it appears to be at first glance. The rapid chaotic U.S. withdrawal of summer 2021 was read by Moscow, Beijing, Pyongyang, and Tehran as weakness and unwillingness to face off with militias, emboldening each of them to take action. We are losing Asia because of how we fled Afghanistan.
These five challenges may generate more crises on other continents. We need to reevaluate our foreign policy, but that needs a national consensus, which is unfortunately absent. Maybe after November?
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