{"id":112508,"date":"2021-04-20T12:45:03","date_gmt":"2021-04-20T12:45:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/?p=112508"},"modified":"2021-04-20T12:45:03","modified_gmt":"2021-04-20T12:45:03","slug":"joe-biden-is-already-tightening-battered-u-s-europe-relations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/politics\/joe-biden-is-already-tightening-battered-u-s-europe-relations\/","title":{"rendered":"Joe Biden Is Already ‘Tightening’ Battered U.S.-Europe Relations"},"content":{"rendered":"

Joe Biden promised in his first <\/span>speech<\/span> as president to \u201crepair our alliances and engage with the world once again\u201d \u2015 a clean break from a predecessor who berated America\u2019s traditional diplomacy and historic friends abroad while courting longtime rivals like Russia.<\/span><\/p>\n

Three months into Biden\u2019s tenure, U.S. allies are already feeling the difference.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe salute the firm interest on the part of the new administration in the trans-Atlantic alliance. This is not just lip service; this is not simply a statement,\u201d Armando Varricchio, Italy\u2019s outgoing ambassador to the U.S., told HuffPost in an interview last week.<\/span><\/p>\n

To Varricchio \u2015 who entered the job under President Barack Obama and stayed in it throughout Donald Trump\u2019s presidency \u2015 the clearest sign of Biden\u2019s seriousness about American alliances is the way he handled his biggest foreign policy move to date: establishing a Sept. 11 deadline for U.S. troops to leave Afghanistan and end America\u2019s longest foreign military intervention.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe administration since the beginning made it clear that it was important to consult and \u2026 the president reaffirmed this in his own remarks\u201d on Afghanistan last Wednesday, Varricchio said. \u201cThis is something that shows that the more that we work together, the more effective our collective response is to what we perceive as common threats and challenges. So it is not just a matter of principle \u2015 this has an immediate effect in tightening our relations.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Biden administration officials have extensively described their thinking to close partners in settings like a recent trip by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to Brussels and meetings with Italian foreign minister Luigi Di Maio in Washington last week, the ambassador added.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Trump administration repeatedly stumbled in explaining its Afghanistan policy \u2015 notably last year, when the then-president tweeted that he would pull out all U.S. troops by Christmas <\/span>without informing Pentagon officials or allies<\/span>\u00a0in advance.<\/span><\/p>\n

Italy is one of the biggest contributors to the international coalition of forces currently stationed in Afghanistan to support the U.S.-backed Afghan government, with 895 Italian troops <\/span>deployed<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

After Washington decided to invade Afghanistan over its former government\u2019s role in the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, the\u00a0<\/span>NATO alliance invoked<\/span> its mutual defense principle for the first time in its history \u2015 and troops from Italy and other NATO member countries joined the American-led mission against al Qaeda\u2019s partners in the country.<\/span><\/p>\n

Those forces will return home in the coming months under Biden\u2019s plan. Describing the strategy, the president <\/span>said American partner nations now have more troops in Afghanistan than the U.S. does. While the militants whom the U.S.-led coalition initially targeted, the Taliban, remain powerful, \u201cwe cannot continue the cycle of extending or expanding our military presence in Afghanistan, hoping to create ideal conditions for the withdrawal, and expecting a different result,\u201d Biden said.<\/span>
<\/span><\/p>\n

Varricchio said his government shares Biden\u2019s view.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do understand that it is time now not just to leave Afghanistan but to do something more and different in Afghanistan \u2026 we don\u2019t want to leave Afghanistan behind,\u201d the ambassador said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Critics of the president\u2019s approach say it could let the Taliban restore the repressive regime it maintained before the 2001 invasion and help terror groups strengthen and attack the U.S.<\/span>\u00a0<\/p>\n

Supporters of the withdrawal note that the U.S. and its allies can still pressure the Taliban and other Afghan factions to negotiate over the country\u2019s future and preserve progress on issues like women\u2019s rights \u2015 and that the foreign military deployment has not prevented organizations like the Islamic State from gaining ground in Afghanistan.<\/span><\/p>\n

American partners are ready to continue investing in the country, according to the ambassador.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt is important to continue our activity when it comes to promoting human rights, strengthening the social fabric of the country \u2026 Italy will stay in Afghanistan in a different way,\u201d Varricchio said, adding that Rome will help monitor the expected power struggle within the country \u201cto ensure that Afghanistan does not pose an immediate threat to our own nations.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

He called the drawdown \u201cemotional,\u201d noting that Italy leads one of the coalition\u2019s four regional commands in Afghanistan, in Herat province.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/p>\n

The ambassador cited the cooperation in Afghanistan as evidence for why Americans should value international relationships like the one between the U.S. and Italy \u2015 a partnership that turned 160 this year and that he called \u201ca blessing\u201d for the two countries.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no better investment to protect your own nation, to make sure that your nation thrives, than to invest in alliances,\u201d Varricchio said. \u201cAnd this is the unique feature of our times: America\u2019s enemies don\u2019t have allies, only America has such a wide network of allies, and this is even more important than having a strong military structure.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Source: Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Joe Biden promised in his first speech as president to \u201crepair our alliances and engage with the world once again\u201d \u2015 a clean break from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nJoe Biden Is Already 'Tightening' Battered U.S.-Europe Relations - Fin2me<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/politics\/joe-biden-is-already-tightening-battered-u-s-europe-relations\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Joe Biden Is Already 'Tightening' Battered U.S.-Europe Relations - Fin2me\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Joe Biden promised in his first speech as president to \u201crepair our alliances and engage with the world once again\u201d \u2015 a clean break from [...]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/politics\/joe-biden-is-already-tightening-battered-u-s-europe-relations\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Fin2me\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-04-20T12:45:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/kKAxmodsDKvBBAcnyEkr.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1396\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"785\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mark\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mark\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/politics\/joe-biden-is-already-tightening-battered-u-s-europe-relations\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/politics\/joe-biden-is-already-tightening-battered-u-s-europe-relations\/\",\"name\":\"Joe Biden Is Already 'Tightening' Battered U.S.-Europe Relations - 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