'Broader Middle East' to stay US security focus

Lately a stream of news reports has been floating around saying the United States and Iraq will soon sign an agreement on US military pullout and long-term political, economic and security relations between the two countries.

In addition to such stories, the US Department of Defense announced in its 2008 National Defense Strategy that the US will step up counter-terrorist actions in Afghanistan and Pakistan in the near future. The Democratic and Republican presidential candidates, Barack Obama and John McCain, also expressed more than once their wish to order US troops out of Iraq as well as sending more US soldiers to the two South Asian nations to beef up counter-terrorist fighting power.

This lends one the impression that the United States' foreign strategies and especially its "global anti-terror strategy" seem about to change. After a complete and relatively in-depth analysis, however, one might find that the US near- and medium-term foreign strategy crosshair will remain locked on the "Broader Middle East", unless its anti-terror-oriented national security strategy undergoes a significant change of course.