The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
At U.N., Biden urges unity in facing global challenges
President: Time to end ‘era of endless war,’ focus on diplomacy.
NEW YORK — President Joe Biden defended the messy end to the war in Afghanistan and made a case that the world can come together to confront global threats like climate change and the coronavirus in a Tuesday speech at the United Nations geared at easing allies’ increasing concerns over American leadership.
In his first address to the body as president, Biden also affirmed U.S. backing for international partnerships and pledged support for poorer countries often disproportionately affected by climate change.
“We’ve ended 20 years of conflict in Afghanistan, and as we close this era of endless war we are opening an era of endless diplomacy,” Biden said.
Biden drew applause when he closed with a note that his speech was the first by a U.S. president in “20 years with the United States
not at war.”
“We’ve turned the page. All the unmatched strength, energy and commitment, will and resources of our nation are now fully and squarely focused on what’s ahead of us, not what was behind,” Biden said.
“I know this — as we look ahead, we will lead. We will lead on all of the greatest challenges of our time, from COVID to climate, peace and security, human dignity and human rights, but we will not go it alone.”
Americans continue to serve combat tours in Iraq, where about 2,500 U.S. troops protect a handful of bases with the consent of Baghdad.
On Monday, the U.S. military conducted a drone strike in northwestern Syria in what it called a “kinetic strike” targeting a senior leader of al-qaida.
“The US remains at war in multiple countries under the 2001 AUMF,” tweeted Matt Duss, the foreign policy adviser for Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-VT., referring to the authorization for the use of military force Congress passed after 9/11 that successive U.S. president have invoked to launch attacks against suspected terrorists across multiple continents.
Biden met with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison later Tuesday, less than a week after the surprise announcement that Australia would purchase U.s.-made nuclear submarines, a major military challenge to China in its Pacific neighborhood. The arrangement infuriated France, which had contracted to provide less capable ships. French officials claim they were blindsided.
Biden did not mention the controversy during his U.N. address, but seemed at pains to show that the United States is not charting a solo course.
“We must choose to do more than we think we can do alone so that we accomplish what we must together,” he said. “Ending this pandemic and making sure we’re better prepared for the next one, staving off climactic climate change and increasing our resilience to the impacts we already are seeing, ensuring a future where technologies are a vital tool to solving human challenges and empowering human potential, not a source of greater strife and repression.”
The fence-mending follows several setbacks for Biden as he tries to rebuild trust among allies after four years of Donald Trump as president. European allies have grown increasingly skeptical about Biden’s message that “America is back” in light of an Afghanistan withdrawal that left NATO nations feeling sidelined and as he advances a China agenda many find needlessly confrontational.
Biden persuaded ambivalent allies to take a slightly tougher public line against China over human rights and economic practices during his first trip abroad, in June. But he has gotten little public backing for his broader argument that China could pose an existential threat to democratic governments in the future, and that old conflicts such as Afghanistan are a distraction.
“The world of today is not the same world as 2001,” Biden said of the year the Afghan conflict began in response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11.
“We’ll stand up for our allies and our friends and oppose attempts by stronger countries to dominate weaker ones,” Biden said of his posture toward U.S. adversaries, but he added that
he does not intend to escalate to more hostility. “We are not seeking a new Cold War or a world divided into rigid blocs.”
Biden entered the gathering of global leaders shadowed by the new breach with ally France, whose foreign minister has openly questioned whether Biden really represents a change from Trump, who distrusted traditional alliances and rejected consensus.
“We can only acknowledge that this spirit is still the same” as under Trump, Jean-yves Le Drian told reporters Monday.
“A basic principle among allies is we talk to one another. We can’t hide and put together some alternative strategies. This is surprising and shocking; this is why there is a crisis of trust beyond the fact that the contract is being broken.”
Even as it has embraced more aggressive action to cut emissions under Biden, the United States has faced criticism for not doing more to pay its fair share to help more vulnerable countries battered by climate change.
In April, the Biden administration in promised to double its annual climate financing to developing countries by 2024, to $5.7 billion — a figure some critics said was too paltry given the U.S. role as the world’s largest historical emitter of greenhouse gases.
Biden pledged Tuesday that he will work with Congress to double that request again.
“This will make the United States the leader of public climate finance, and with our added support, together with increased private capital ... we’ll be able to meet the goal of mobilizing $100 billion to support climate action in developing nations,” he said.