In August, The National Interest organized a symposium on American foreign policy in the Middle East under the Biden administration that posed the question, “Given Joe Biden’s recent decisions in Afghanistan and Iraq, is the president right to be reducing the U.S. military presence in the Middle East?” In “Leaving Afghanistan Doesn’t Mean a Total Middle East Withdrawal,” Albritton Center for Grand Strategy (CGS) Faculty Affiliate, Dr. Gregory Gause, notes that Afghanistan “was always tangential to the long-term American interest in the Persian Gulf,” and the U.S. military presence in other Middle East countries, including Iraq, remains largely unchanged.
The Albritton Center for Grand Strategy serves as an intellectual hub for the critical examination of American grand strategy. Specifically, the Center supports research that takes a fresh look at America’s grand strategic choices; fosters dialogue between scholars and practitioners; and helps prepare a new generation of public servants who will be grand strategic thinkers.
