Biden (Washington Insider Magazine) -President Biden recently addressed the UN General Assembly for the first time since taking office in a speech where he outlined the country’s new diplomatic strategy in light of his decision to pull US forces out of Afghanistan. The president promised “a new era of relentless diplomacy” which is to be an end to an “era of relentless war”. This is to be seen as a shift in how the US plans on dealing with global challenges, aiming to do so diplomatically while seeing military power as a “last resort”. With many of these remarks, President Biden seemed to call on allies within the UN to aid the US in diplomatically solving the world’s problems.
President Biden maintained that the US still aims to intervene in major global issues that arise, just from a more diplomatic standpoint. This new strategy does not just apply to conflicts such as the one in Afghanistan. He went on to announce that he plans double the public international financing “to help developing nations tackle the climate crisis” for the second time in his presidency so far.
Biden added, “We are not seeking a new Cold War… the United States is willing to work with any nation.. That pursues peaceful resolution to shared challenges, even if we have intense disagreements in other areas.” It has been speculated that this quote was subtly aimed towards China. Biden went on to urge allies to aid the US in achieving denuclearization of certain regions, specifically in Iran and North Korea.
This speech in part defended the Biden Administration’s handling of the conflict in Afghanistan, which was met with much frustration, but it was made clear he intends to work in conjunction with the UN to handle similar issues in the future. In his closing remarks, Biden stated, “We cannot afford to waste any more time. Let’s get to work. Let’s make our future better now, we can do this.” As he urged allies to aid his efforts to fight issues from climate change, to COVID-19, to terrorism on a global scale.
