Middle East
For purposes of U.S. foreign policy, the Middle East consists of Iran, Iraq, Israel, Syria, and Libya.
After his inauguration the Obama administration was confronted with addressing on-going conflicts in Iraq, Israel-Gaza, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Other foreign policy issues related to the Middle East included combating terrorism, and promoting development. Obama appointed several Special Envoys including a Special Envoy for Middle East peace (George Mitchell) and a Special Envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan (Richard C. Holbrooke).
Following the example of the United States several other European nations appointed special envoys to Afghanistan and Pakistan including Germany who appointed Bernd Mützelburg and the United Kingdom who selected Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles as its special envoy to the two countries.
President Obama changed the timeline of withdrawing troops from Iraq within 16 months of his taking office as outlined in the election to 19 months after taking office.
The US-Israeli relations came under serious strain under the Barack Obama administration, as Israel announced it was pushing ahead with building 1,600 new homes in a Jewish area in East Jerusalem in March 2010, as Vice-President Joe Biden was visiting. It was described as "one of the most serious rows between the two allies in recent decades". Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Israel's move was "deeply negative" for US-Israeli relations. However Obama was the first United States president to supply Israel with modern bunker buster bombs. And under Obama, Foreign Military Financing for Israel reached $3 billion for the first time in history.
After initial skepticism of international involvement to prevent Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi from using violence to suppress popular demonstrations in his country, the Obama administration crucially backed United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973 to create a Libyan no-fly zone, with United States Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice successfully pushing to include language allowing the UN mandate free rein to launch air attacks on Libyan ground targets threatening civilians.
In March 2011, Obama authorized the firing of 110 Tomahawk cruise missiles against targets in Libya, in response to regime actions against rebel forces, to enforce the UN no-fly zone. Controversy arose over whether Obama's use of military force without prior congressional approval was constitutional, with comments by Yale law professor Jack M. Balkin, Salon.com columnist Glenn Greenwald. and current Legal Adviser of the Department of State Harold Hongju Koh.
Read more about this topic: Foreign Policy Of The Barack Obama Administration
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