Biden defends foreign policy despite ongoing wars

2025-01-14 07:22:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Biden defends foreign policy despite ongoing wars

Outgoing President Joe Biden

Outgoing President Joe Biden sought on Monday to improve his foreign policy record and said that the United States' adversaries are weaker now than when he took office four years ago, despite global crises that remain unresolved.

A week before President-elect Donald Trump took office, President Biden addressed American diplomats at the State Department and praised his administration's support for Ukraine and for Israel's wars in the Middle East.

Mr. Biden said the United States was "winning the global competition" and would not be economically surpassed by China as predicted, while Russia and Iran have been weakened by wars without direct US involvement.

"Compared to four years ago, America is stronger, our alliances are stronger, our adversaries and competitors are weaker," President Biden said. "And we didn't go to war to make all of this possible."

As wars continue in Ukraine and the Middle East, officials are hopeful that a deal between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas can be reached before Joe Biden leaves the White House on January 20.

Mr. Biden said negotiators were close to reaching an agreement that would allow the release of people held hostage by Hamas in the Gaza Strip and end the fighting there to allow for an increase in humanitarian aid.

"So many innocent people have been killed, so many communities have been destroyed. The Palestinians deserve peace, the right to determine their own future. Israel deserves peace and real security. The hostages and their families deserve to be reunited," Mr. Biden said. "And we are working urgently to close this deal."

President Biden has faced criticism for providing diplomatic and arms support to Israel since the latest Israeli-Palestinian conflict erupted on October 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli figures. Israel's military offensive in Gaza has killed more than 46,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

Outside the State Department, some protesters chanted "war criminal" slogans for Mr. Biden.

Mr. Biden said he had helped Israel defeat adversaries like Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, both backed by Iran. The US president also hailed Washington's support for Israel during two Iranian attacks in 2024.

"Overall, Iran is weaker than it has been in decades," he added, noting the collapse of Assad's Syrian government.

AUTHORITICAL ALLIANCE

President Biden acknowledged that authoritarian states China, Iran, North Korea and Russia were now more interconnected, but he said this was more due to "weakness than strength."

"When Putin attacked Ukraine, he thought he could take Kiev in a matter of days. The truth is that since that war began, I am the only one who has stood in the center of Kiev, not him," Mr. Biden said.

President Biden defended his decision to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan in 2021. "Ending the war was the right thing to do and I believe history will show that," Mr. Biden said.

Mr. Biden's Republican opponents, including Mr. Trump, have called the decision an indication of a failed presidency.

“I’ll tell you what happened, he did so badly with Afghanistan, it was such a terrible embarrassment, the most embarrassing moment in the history of our country,” Mr. Trump said in his only presidential debate in 2024 with Mr. Biden, just weeks before the Democrat announced his withdrawal from the race.

President Biden said that when he entered the White House, experts predicted that it was inevitable that China would surpass the United States in economic terms. Now, he said, that will never happen. The president assessed that the United States economy is progressing, but that there is still much work to be done./VOA