The US elections ended with a real cliffhanger, as Americans have chosen Democratic Party candidate Joe Biden as their 46th President. As Biden crossed the 270 electoral vote threshold, his supporters flooded streets in many states to celebrate his win. Biden in his victory speech vowed to unify the country and bring normalcy after Donald Trump’s exhausting and manic single term.
Undoubtedly, the way Covid-19 hurt millions of Americans and made the electorate fearful and uneasy, it also crushed Trump’s poll numbers. His handling of the pandemic was a futile effort with lack of respect for public health recommendations that led to spread of the virus. Also on foreign policy front, the US under Donald Trump had been retreating itself into an isolationist shell becoming less engaged internationally. Proclaiming the slogan ‘America First’, it became more protectionist, opportunist and unilateralist in its advancement. The result was very low level of global support for America, as it was time when the world expected the US to be globally at forefront to solve international issues. But America unilaterally withdrew from the Paris Climate Accord, Iran nuclear deal, Intermediate Range Nuclear Treaty, UNESCO, UN Human Rights Council, World Health Organisation (WHO) and all this dented image of the US. While one should recognise Trump’s efforts for peace in Afghanistan, there are expectations that once Biden assumes the presidency in January he would reverse biased decisions of Trump administration.
As stated by some analysts, win will not be enough for Biden rather he has to put sincere efforts to re-establish global trust in the US dealings. Undoubtedly Biden has to his credit decades of political experience. He is a matured and decent politician who has already served as vice President under former President Barrack Obama. As he is talking about unifying his own nation, his focus should also be taking the world towards multilateralism in order to collectively address the challenges such as the one posed by the contagious Covid-19. The world can no longer afford more conflicts and confrontation rather resolution of the existing ones for peace and stability. It was in his era as the vice President about half a decade ago that Washington had signed Iran nuclear deal, formally called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). The Trump administration withdrew from it in 2018 saying the arms control agreement was too narrow and too weak to cope with the threats posed by Iran. However, the fact of matter is that Tehran mostly complied with its commitments and it was amply verified and confirmed by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
As Biden himself admits that Trump’s policy on Iran failed and moved the country closer to acquiring nuclear weapon, it will be a positive beginning and gesture for the new president if he honours and re-enters the nuclear deal and lift sanctions on Iran. The path of engagement should be followed to sort out issues and address misunderstandings. The same engagement is required to address the festering conflict in Afghanistan. Washington has so far played a very positive role in furthering the intra-Afghan peace process with the cooperation of countries such as Pakistan. Since the US wants honourable exit from the war torn country, it will not be possible without establishing permanent peace there. Hence, the new US administration must give priority to make the intra-Afghan peace talks a complete success. For this they need to stay in close contacts with both the parties — the Afghan government and the Taliban. Currently the US has lost the status of honest broker in Middle East conflict due to one sided and discriminatory policies of Trump administration that gave undue favours to Israel. The new administration must review its Middle East policy ensuring that Israel and Palestinians negotiate a two state solution, which is imperative for peace and stability of this region and end prolonged sufferings of Palestinians. The US must also stop seeing China as its rival rather both the countries together can do great work for well-being of humanity and in the process accepting the reality of a multipolar world.
