American Role in The Middle East

STUDENT NAME
INSTITUTIONAL AFFILIATION(S)
INTRODUCTION TO THE
MIDDLE EAST

AMERICAN ROLE IN THE MIDDLE EAST 1
American Role in The Middle East
Introduction
America has long been indulged with the Middle East (ME) and its participation has
only increased since the Cold War. A glance at current realties in the ME reveals that
Palestinians are still homeless and hunts for sovereign independence; no light is seen by them
despite constant international condemnation has been made regarding Israeli's lethal
operations and reprisals against Intifada or Palestinian uprisings since 1987 (Tristam,
2019). Although the strains and acrimony in the ME and American relationships are on
display, the US policymakers reasonably wary by making dramatic alterations to US policies
in ME world, particularly in the era of instability and disorder. This research paper hence
proposes to examine and interpret facts associated with America and ME relationship and
what role it plays in fighting terrorism through policy implementation. Provided few
loopholes seen in existing policies, this essay will provide few implications which need to be
added to ensure that Americans role in ME is not escalated rather accepted in a democratic
sense.
Critical discussion
America acts as a sole foreign-regional hegemonic influence due to its military
prominence in ME, guaranteeing the presence of pro-Western commands in the area. The role
America posits in the ME can be divided into five spheres: preventing nuclear proliferation,
ensuring free oil flow, fighting terrorism, promoting democracy and maintaining Israeli
security. Iran is one of the Islamic states and Al-Qaida poses threats to the interest of Iran. It
can be argued that the threat they represent is most of the times overrepresented as compared
to US interests in the region who stand still even at the risk of disruption. Issues occurring
due to the allies over there, in fact, has become a major concern due to which Arab springs

AMERICAN ROLE IN THE MIDDLE EAST 2
besides civil wars that have brought many disruptions in the forefront ( Byman & Moller,
2016). America's approach to managing issues has generated several benefits such as
disrupting and deterring forces along with reassuring allies successfully. But then, the internal
problems contribute to arise anti-Americanism. This implies US policy to protect its interest
by weakening Islamic states and reenergize its support by promoting peace among
Palestinians and Israel.
Former President Obama’s strategic and innovative thinking demonstrating
disengagement was questioned amid social activists in Arab uprising. Countries like Egypt,
Yemen and Tunisia became allies of the US in the ME especially Mubarak's Egypt as Israel's
pillar for security since 1979 Saleh’s Yemen and Camp David Agreements to fight against
Al-Qaeda in Arabian Peninsula (Daigle, 2017). In general, Obama chose not to commit
with continuity of old regimes or open doors to collaborate with revolutionary armies rather
condemned using violence in every case and decided to stick to a wait-and-see approach.
However, the regional actors became suspicious of America and questioned whether being a
security provider means the US is providing security to the powers only for safeguarding
territorial integrity only. Lack of additional support interpreted by policy decisions made by
the US harmed their continuity in the ME region status quo (Quero & Dessì, 2019).
Looking at the issue from a different angle, it can be said that when the US comprehended
that Pax American did not mean to prevent domestic uprising to succeed, the autocratic in the
region supposed that Washington will help then in a more decisive way. They resisted that
political change can give more room to anti-status quo, revolutionary forces and anti-Pax
Americans to get deep-rooted in strategic upholds in ME.
Ever since American troops were withdrawn from ME, US presidents have proposed
to reconsider US commitments with them. While Obama spoke for rebalancing, present US
president, Trump purports to refocus upon greater powers to compete. The presence of the