Major issues in US foreign policies, factors that influence factors that influence foreign policies and critiques to the US foreign policies.
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Foreign policies of United States of America government are set up by the governments to how they relate with foreign countries. The government sets standards that also guide how it relates with her citizens and also the organizations in the countries. Different regimes come up with different foreign policy strategies depending on the issues that arise or occur at that time. (James M. McCormick 2009)
First in reference to President Bush administration, the foreign policy of his government policy changed after the terrorist attack on November 11th 2001.
The focus of his government was to shield the Europe country from attack of missiles by North Korea and Iran. This was not to be the case after the terrorist attack. Bush made a speech and vowed that United States of America would use all resources including Intelligence and financial resources at her disposal to fight global terror. He further stated that his government would work to fight against any foreign nation that offered financial aid or was home to the terrorist groups. This action by the Bush Administration came to be known as the ‘Bush Doctrine’ in which the government vowed to work on preventive measures to secure its citizens. It became clear that the change in any of the government policy focused more on preventive action rather than preemptive action.
The other issue on US foreign policy was the on the humanitarian assistance that it offered to different people across the world. Non Governmental organization have also developed whose aim is to give humanitarian aid to different sensitive regions but this has also failed due to government policy which demands that the said organizations comply with anti terrorism policy in the country.
Even with these foreign policies in Bush administration, there were questions on the seriousness of his government to fight terrorism. The critiques had the idea that some of US allies had questionable characters as how they could help the country fight terrorism. Pakistan was such a country. President Bush developed a cordial relationship with President Pervez Musharraf. This was in order to have the support of his government which was a neighbor to Afghanistan which was seen to be the home to the Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. Questions arose as to the commitment of the Pakistan government to help fight war against terror as it was reported that the country had in different occasions been a home to the Osama bin Laden.
Obama Administration on the other hand had to invent more strategies in order to complete the Afghanistan war. He ordered 30,000 troops to be Afghanistan. This tripled the number of troops that he inherited from the previous administration. This policy was not welcomed with majority of the citizens but he insisted that the mission of his government was to deny the Al Qaeda group any safe heaven. Most argued that the previous government had used a lot of money in funding the fight and increasing the number of troops would increase the cost of fight too
References
James M. McCormick, American Foreign Policy and Process (2009) ch 7-8
usforeignpolicy.about.com › … › US Foreign Policywww.huffingtonpost.com/…/obamas-afghanistan-plan-o_n_374995.html
