Foreign Policy: United States and Fight with Terrorism

NB: We do not resell your papers. Upon ordering, we do an original paper exclusively for you.

NB: All your data is kept safe from the public.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Reasons for US Military Invasion against Iraq
US-Pakistan Relations after Osama’s Capture
US Military intervention in Afghanistan
Global US Counter-terrorism Strategy
Conclusion
Works Cited

Introduction

All countries in the world have different foreign policies concerning their counterparts. Different countries have varying opinions and perceptions and the nature of foreign policy depends largely on the country’s relations with the countries in question.

These policies have in the recent years been based on the increasing terrorism across the globe. There are those countries for instance Christian nations that believe that Muslim nations are perpetrating terrorism and their foreign policies should be different from the other nations (Chaliand 56).

On the other hand, Muslim nations hold that the policies imposed against them are discriminatory and amounts to intimidation. This has created grudge between different countries and hostility is increasing in every day life. The following brief report will focus on the world superpower, United States, which is fighting terrorism to bring about international peace and security among all countries.

Reasons for US Military Invasion against Iraq

After September 11 attacks the Bush administration blamed Iraq for the cause and the existing suspicion that the country possessed weapons of mass destruction increased. The hostility between the two countries can be traced back in early 1990s when the US attacked Iraq for falsely attacking its neighboring country Iran (Chaliand 56).

Since that time, the two countries had been having unending hostility. When President George Bush came to power, he was on the opinion that the country was manufacturing illegal nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction. This, he claimed threatened global security and the only solution to the problem was forceful disarmament of the nation.

The UN had for several times send its inspectors to the country to look for possible evidence that could link the Arab state to the claims. All the results had been negative since the inspectors could not provide any tangible evidence based on the claims.

However, Bush differed with their opinion and sought permission from the UN Security Council to launch military attacks against the country. United Nations pleaded with US not to attack the nation until tangible evidence was availed. Of the five permanent members of UN Security council only British with the leadership of its prime minister, Tony Blair supported the idea (Chaliand 56).

So many nations did not support Bush’s idea and this was a major setback for US. However, taking advantage of US’s superiority, Bush went ahead and militarily attacked the nation that saw massive destruction of the country’s infrastructure, economy and political structure.

Another setback for US came when after the whole operation, it came out that Iraq neither produced nor possessed any weapons of mass destruction. This drawn global criticism from many countries and US was seen as having a different motive for attacking Iraq.

US-Pakistan Relations after Osama’s Capture

After Osama Bin Laden, the suspected mastermind of US September 11 attacks the two countries’ relations seem to take a different direction. The US federal government has threatened to withdraw all its financial aid to the country, a move that is seen to weaken the two countries’ diplomatic relationships.

However, the Senate Foreign Relations committee chair has warned against the move saying that the fact that the country hosted the terror suspect does not mean that it can be linked to terrorism (Ryan 2). Despite the cooperation from Pakistan authorities that led to the capture of Bin Laden the country’s suspicion of hosting powerful Jihad groups has increased according to majority of US senators.

Though some individuals in the US government are promising the diplomatic relations between the two countries will not be affected, the truth is that the US perception towards the nation and its ability to fight terrorism has drastically changed.

US Military intervention in Afghanistan

When US was attacked by Al-Qaeda in 2001, it was furious with the criminal act and the principal suspect was Osama Bin Laden who is Afghanistan’s citizen. Not knowing where to begin, US began an immediate attack for the Al-Qaeda leader and other leaders of the other dangerous terror group Taliban in Afghanistan (Chaliand 56).

This led to military attack of the country with sophisticated military operations that were seen as a move to capture the leader and his followers. The country was destroyed tremendously just the way Iraq had been invaded. At last, the mission succeeded in overthrowing the Taliban group and paralyzing their operations though it failed to capture the principal leader of the dangerous terrorist group, Osama Bin Laden.

Global US Counter-terrorism Strategy

It is believed that, Osama’s assassination will not change the US strategies and policies against the terrorism. This is because the killing of the terror suspect does not mean the war against terror is over. The US has promised to strengthen its policies and strategies in fighting the terrorism.

However, the death of this terrorist has had considerable implications for US counter-terrorism policy (Ryan 2). The US military attack and its failure in Iraq attracted world’s criticism from different religious leaders. This is because the attacks were seen as religious-based and ideological differences sparked the war thus implying the country had no respect for other religions.

The role of intelligence collection and military operations is to formulate strong mechanisms that will help in fighting global terrorism and bring it into a halt. This has been demonstrated in the assassination of Osama since were it not for cooperation and joint military attacks between several military groups and in particular US and Afghanistan, the Al-Qaeda leader would not have been captured. One of the strategies of the US in fighting terrorism is the permanent closure of terror suspects’ prison, Guantanamo bay situated in America’s naval base.

The prison is being criticized for using outdated and unacceptable torture methods thus violating the fundamental human rights (Pastor 27). However, a controversy has emerged on whether to close the prison since some policy makers are claiming that the closure of the prison will perpetrate instead of reducing terrorist attacks.

Conclusion

The fight against terrorism should be approached in an appropriate approach and the to guarantee respect to all people regardless of their religious backgrounds (Pastor 27). Some policies and strategies used by the United States need to be changed and become acceptable to all nations. Again, terrorism has largely influenced many nations’ foreign relations and this is the reason for the increasing hostility among different countries of the world.

Works Cited

Chaliand, Gerard. The history of terrorism: From antiquity to Al Qaeda. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007. Web.

Pastor, James. Terrorism & public safety policing: Implications of the Obama Presidency. New York, NY: Taylor & Francis, 2009.

Ryan, Reilly. Kerry cautions colleagues about cutting off Pakistan after Osama Bin Laden capture. TPM media. 2011. Web.

Click Here To Order Now!