President George Bush, following the 9/11 attack on the Twin Tower, while building the "coalition of willing" to punish the perpetrators and the country which sheltered them, threatened the international community "either you are with us or against us". He meant those who would not join the coalition would be construed as aiding the terrorists and would be treated as enemies of the United States. He grouped Iran, Iraq and North Korea as "axis of evils" and warned them of dire consequences. Bush, to his utter dismay, soon came to realise the absurdity of his characterisation of friendship and found that though people around the globe despised terrorism, condemned the attack in New York, they, nonetheless, disapproved belligerence of the United States. A handful of countries, led by Britain, Spain, Italy, Japan and Australia, lined up with the United States. Pakistan, being a buffer state, found it prudent to join the coalition. The rest of the world remained neutral and opposed the US-led warfare that culminated in the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
What were the consequences of this invasion are known to all. Suffice it to point out that the Iraq war removed the formidable deterrent against Iran's expansion of influence in the region. American troops were withdrawn from Iraq in 2013 only to be occupied by the Islamic State two years later that resolved to destroy everything that secular Iraq stood for. Now violence is a frequent experience and hatred between the Shiite and Sunni has never been so irreconcilable.
President Trump has picked up from where Bush left with regard to the alienation of the countries that do not see eye to eye with the United States. He placed "America first" in international relation, collective security, disarmament and trade implying that in any multilateral agreement, the United States must get dividend proportionate to its investment, if not more. This is a total repudiation of the policy that the United States nurtured since the end of World War II. The Marshall Plan was developed and implemented to help rebuild Europe funded by the United States. The architects of the Plan discounted the cost-benefit ratio as they were driven by fundamental belief that the United States cannot and should not live in prosperity leaving the rest of the world mired in poverty and strife.
The United Nations was created to avert war and resolve conflicts through dialogues. The specialised agencies like World Food Programme (WFP), United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and World Health Organisation (WHO) were established to contain hunger, disease and impoverishment in countries starving in resources. The United States provided resources to these organisations for the past seventy years without looking for quid pro quo. Now the Trump administration would like to support those agencies that would adhere to the political agenda of Washington. It has served notice of withdrawal to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) because the agency did not acquiesce to US policy of recognizing Jewish heritage in Jerusalem. Trump announced that those who had opposed Washington's decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital would forfeit US funding. This decision came after 128 countries voted against US recognition of Jerusalem in the UN General Assembly in January last.
Trump Administration suspended over $1.3 billion annual security assistance to Pakistan and withheld half of annual funding to UN agency providing humanitarian assistance to low-income population in Palestine. The consequence of cutting off humanitarian assistance is not difficult to comprehend. Even the Israeli government considered the termination of humanitarian assistance ill-advised and requested Washington to restore the funding.
Last week US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was in the Middle East. In Baghdad he was appalled at the slow rate of reconstruction. He urged the government and the investors to help rebuild the country or risk the return of the ISIS. Tillerson announced that the US bank would facilitate financing $3.0 billion in American goods and services while other corporations have made deals worth $ 2.0 billion with Iraqi entrepreneurs. On the following day, Trump remarked that the United States had spent too much in the region and tweeted, "it is now time to start investing in our country."
Israel, Egypt and Jordan are at Washington's payroll. Israel gets $3.3 billion per annum while Egypt and Jordan get $2.0 billion and $1.5 billion respectively as price of loyalty.
Palestinians have already dismissed the role of the United States in rolling out a peace plan in the Israel- Palestinian conflict after it recognised Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
The diminishing role of the United States in the Middle East would herald the beginning of the end of US dominance in the region. This has been the consequence of Washington's disengagement from international treaties, moving away from European allies and prioritisation of American interests over global interests.
Abdur Rahman Chowdhury is a former official of the United Nations.
darahman.chowdhury@hotmail.com