The content below comes from the newsletter This Week in War Powers News, provided by the Committee for Responsible Foreign Policy.
Trump and Democrats Both Promise End to “Forever Wars”
With November approaching, the Democratic Party and President Trump have released plans for future policies, and both sides are calling for an end to Washington’s seemingly never-ending wars in the Middle East.
On Sunday, President Trump released a 50-point agenda for his second term that says the president will “stop endless war” and bring US troops “home.” The plan also pledges that the US will “maintain” military strength and says the US will “wipe out” global terrorists that threaten Americans.
The Democratic Party released its 2020 platform this month, which uses similar language to President Trump’s agenda and calls for ending “forever wars.” The plan says the Democrats will work to end these foreign entanglements “responsibly.” The only conflicts mentioned by name in the platform are the wars in Afghanistan and Yemen. READ MORE.
Trump’s Afghanistan Policy Looks A Lot Like Biden’s
In an election dominated by concerns about the coronavirus, the economic recession and racial justice, the candidates aren’t talking much about America’s longest war. But with former acting intelligence chief Richard Grenell and retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, national security adviser to Vice President Mike Pence, scheduled to speak Wednesday at the Republican National Convention, America’s nearly 19-year conflict in Afghanistan may get some fleeting attention.
The policy differences between President Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden are stark, with one notable exception: Trump’s Afghanistan policy looks a lot like the one Biden has always wanted. READ MORE.
The Israel-U.A.E. Deal Puts the “Forever” in “Forever War”
It is by now almost a formality: In the Middle East, nothing either good or bad can transpire without Washington pointing to Tehran’s alleged hegemonic designs as the force behind it.
So it was with the so-called peace deal announced last week between Israel and the United Arab Emirates; two countries who were never at war declared peace, and the Trump administration—along with much of Washington—quickly deemed it historic.
Though the two states have intimately (but quietly) collaborated on security matters for years, the announcement of their security alliance was, according to the conventional wisdom, a groundbreaking move that was only made possible due to their shared sense of threat from Iran. READ MORE.
