Abstract: Both withdrawal from Iraq and expansion in Afghanistan are Barack Obama’s effects to renew American leadership. The Iraq War is an illegal action, and U.S. military presence is by itself one of the causes of the worsened situation. Withdrawal from Iraq is the measure necessary to stabilize the security situation in Iraq. The Afghanistan War, though legal in some way, yet the situation is becoming more severe. Expansion in Afghanistan is to prevent Afghanistan and Pakistan turning into sources of global terrorism. In the long term, the U.S. will not easily give up the already held geopolitical interests in Iraq and Afghanistan, and U.S. military presence in the two countries will both be parts of U.S. global military base structure.
(This article is published on Arab World Studies, No.6, 2009)