US Foreign Policy under President Obama and the Challenge of Pakistan

Abstract

President Barack Obama issued his first National Security Strategy of the United States of America on May 26, 2010. The document is a statutory requirement by Congress, prepared periodically and published by the executive branch, which outlines the major national security concerns of the United States and how the administration plans to deal with them. There was a great deal of anticipation to see what the new president's first official presentation of national security would look like, and how it would differ from those issued by former president George W. Bush. On the very first page of the strategy there are only two countries mentioned - Afghanistan and Pakistan. But their mention at the top of the document is not really a place of pride, they are there as manifestations of America's central security concerns: Going forward, there should be no doubt: the United States of America will continue to underwrite global security - through our commitments to allies, partners, and institutions; our focus on defeating al-Qa'ida and its affiliates in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and around the globe; and our determination to deter aggression and prevent the proliferation of the world's most dangerous weapons.(National Security Strategy of the United States 2010)