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Will Biden's America Start New Wars?


By Sikander Hayat

Under President Trump, the United States of America did not invade any country. On the contrary, the US army started drawing down its operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria along with other engagements around the world. Afghanistan saw the biggest drawdown with now only 2500 troops in Afghanistan.  The big question now is if the Biden Presidency will go back to previous years and start again the policy of invading far away places to help cement its imperial role which was reversed by Trump’s America first policy. 




Mr Biden supported the Iraq invasion by voting for the war and by supporting President Bush. When Mr Biden was a vice president to President Barack Obama, he supported increasing troop numbers in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Clearly, there is a tendency where Mr Biden tilts in favour of foreign wars. 


If there was one good policy pursued by President Trump, that was to stop engaging in foreign wars and concentrate on America and Americans. If covid had not hit the economy as badly as it eventually ended up doing, Mr Trump would still be the President.  





America needs to redefine its role in the world from being a hegemon and a global policeman to a country which wants to cooperate with other countries and play a positive role in reaching consensus. Failure in Iraq (which the US has now effectively handed over to Iran) and Afghanistan (which is soon going back to the bad old days of pre Taliban internal conflict) has shown limits of American power. America can no longer kill and destroy its way to victory in the age of information where news travels fast and consequences of bad actions are swift. 




A suitable piece of advice for Mr Biden is to cooperate with the world at large and forge a new American role in the world. There are always scenarios where war seems like the only option but in the long run, patience and using soft power may achieve more for American State than being a global bully. The United States can be a source of great good and moral authority without engaging in armed conflicts. 





No doubt there will be challenges and two obvious ones being China & Russia. Dealing with these two geopolitical and economic powers (China) will define the Biden presidency. Taiwan is always an outstanding issue with Russia (having captured Crimea and parts of Eastern Ukraine, Georgia and other parts of the old Soviet Union) increasingly playing the role of a spoiler all around the world. 


The bigger question is if these problems are America’s problems. This is where Trump was different from past and maybe future presidents of America. 
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