The United States after unipolarity: Obama’s interventions: Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya

In its first 3 years, the Obama administration fully embraced the intervention in Afghanistan it inherited, led a second intervention to its conclusion in Iraq, and initiated a third military intervention in Libya. In all three cases, decreasing American public support for foreign operations and stiff fiscal constraints have focused public attention on the timing and levels of US military involvement in these three countries. While important, the ongoing debate over the allocation of military troops and scarce financial resources obscures a more fundamental question concerning the strategic dimensions of US interventionism. Both judgements of success and the contours of interventionism under Obama will be shaped by the strategic choices taken in Afghanistan, the strategic options available in Iraq after the exit of US troops, and the strategic lessons of US intervention in Libya.