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Strategic Change in U.S. Foreign Policy - Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

carnegieendowment.org · 6,744 words · saved by 1 readers

The American Statecraft Program develops and advances ideas for a more disciplined U.S. foreign policy aligned with American values and cognizant of the limits of American power in a more competitive world. Making strategic changes in foreign policy is difficult for the United States. Consider, for example, the challenges that former president Donald Trump and current President Joe Biden faced in their administrations’ efforts to withdraw U.S. military forces from Afghanistan. Despite years of failing efforts to bring peace and stability to that country, and limited evidence that much improvement would come without a major reorientation of the U.S. approach, resistance to changing course was enormous. It took an outsider, Donald Trump, to set the process in motion and a long-time insider, Joe Biden, to finish it. The early 1970s U.S. withdrawal from Vietnam, which very few would criticize today, also took several years, even after a huge protest movement at home and abroad demanded it.

About the Authors Christopher S. Chivvis is the director of the American Statecraft Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Jennifer Kavanagh was a senior fellow in the American Statecraft Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Sahil Lauji Former James C. Gaither Junior Fellow, American Statecraft Program Sahil Lauji was a James C. Gaither Junior Fellow in the Carnegie American Statecraft Program. Adele Malle Former James C. Gaither Junior Fellow, American Statecraft Program Adele Malle was a James C. Gaither Junior Fellow in the Carnegie…

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