BIDEN DISTANCES HIMSELF FROM OBAMA AND TRUMP’S POLICIES
▶ In first 100 days, president caught between centrists and opponents of military intervention
US President Joe Biden is seeking to distance himself from mistakes made by Barack Obama and Donald Trump in the Middle East, choosing a cautious approach that resonates with Americans and balances Washington’s interests.
Many of Mr Biden’s national security actions in his first 100 days in office illustrate the pressure he is under. There is a tug-of-war between centrist and more hawkish elements of the foreign policy establishment and increasing influence from anti-war activists and sceptics of US military interventions.
It is unknown which faction will win out in the long-run.
“We really kind of have to see which inclinations – the inclination to lower our military profile as opposed to the inclination to continue the forever wars – end up carrying the day with the president,” said Andrew Bacevich, president of the Quincy Institute, a think tank that campaigns for less military intervention.
“The obvious answer is it’s too soon to tell,” Dr Bacevich told The National.
“The most important thing he has done is declaring that the Afghanistan war will end by September 11. It’s important in and of itself because that is America’s longest-ever war and it has failed.”
At the same time, Gen Kenneth McKenzie – the top commander in charge of US forces in the region – said that some of the 3,500 troops set to withdraw from Afghanistan will probably remain in the region for counter-terrorism operations in the war-torn country.
Gen McKenzie also said that he does not see the US “completely withdrawing from Iraq in the future”.
Although the vast majority of the 2,500 US troops in Iraq are officially advising the Iraqi security forces in their campaign against the remnants of ISIS, their presence has made them a frequent target for Iranbacked militias.
An attack in Erbil in February prompted Mr Biden to retaliate by striking two Iraqi militias in Syria. Republicans in Congress praised the Syria strike, while vital members of Mr Biden’s own party questioned its legality given the lack of congressional authorisation.
Mr Biden’s Syria strike represented a more limited form of retaliation than former president Donald Trump’s strike on Iranian Quds Force commander Qassem Suleimani in Baghdad when Iraq served as the battleground between the US and Iran-backed militias during a similar bout of violence last year.
But reviving the Iran nuclear deal following Mr Trump’s withdrawal appears to be Mr Biden’s most urgent priority in the region.
US envoy to Iran Robert Malley is on his way for a third round of indirect talks with Tehran in Vienna.
At the same time, Mr Biden has not offered Iran any significant sanctions relief. Mr Biden has also sought to place more emphasis on human rights in foreign policy than Mr Trump did.
His decision to end offensive support for the Saudi Arabia-led coalition fighting Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels and recognising the Armenian genocide this month over Turkey’s strong objections illustrate this emphasis.
Similarly, the Biden administration is keeping public distance from regional conflicts that hurt Mr Obama’s legacy.
While Mr Obama turned a blind eye to the Saudi-led offensive in Yemen in 2015 and offered intelligence co-operation, the Biden team has crafted its messaging around the need to end a war that remains unpopular inside the US.
But the Biden team appears content to pursue minimal diplomatic engagement in Syria.
Mr Biden has not appointed an envoy for Syria – the first time the war-torn country has not had a US envoy since 2012.
On Israel, Mr Biden has avoided Mr Obama’s costly policy of clashing early with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Mr Trump’s warm embrace of the Likud leader and reversal of a 30-year policy towards the Palestinians.
Instead, the new administration has re-established high-level contact with the Palestinian Authority that was halted under Mr Trump, resumed aid to UNRWA and announced $15 million in Covid-related humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians.
At the same time, the Biden administration is not prioritising Palestinian-Israeli negotiations or issues such as a settlement freeze or Hamas rockets.
Although Mr Obama made his first foreign calls to Palestinian and Israeli leaders, Mr Biden has yet to call Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Mr Biden has also drawn criticism from the left wing of his party over his proposed $753 billion defence budget for 2022.
Although the budget proposal is a 1.4 per cent increase over the defence spending level Congress enacted last year, Republicans say Mr Biden’s figure is still too low.
Under the Biden administration, the Pentagon is still determined to focus less on the Middle East in favour of “great power competition”, echoing the attempts by Mr Trump and Mr Obama to counter China in the Indo-Pacific.
“There is a very strong tendency to reframe US-China relations in terms of a new Cold War to emphasise the adversarial and competitive aspects of the relationship,” said Dr Bacevich. “The counter argument is the emphasis that [Mr Biden] is putting on climate change.”
After rejoining the Paris climate accord, Mr Biden convened a high-profile summit last week with 40 world leaders, including President Xi Jinping of China, which is the world’s largest carbon dioxide producer.
As part of his bid to cajole other world leaders into increasing their commitments before a UN climate summit in Scotland in November, Mr Biden said the US will aim to halve its carbon emissions by 2030.
“Foreign policy is domestic policy,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in February. That appears to be the default doctrine for Mr Biden’s foreign policy so far.
Many of Mr Biden’s national security actions demonstrate a tug-ofwar between centrists and more hawkish elements