US must adjust Asia strategy to fight terrorism

The United States needs to recalibrate its strategic priorities and put the Middle East back on the top of its foreign policy agenda to counter Islamic extremism.

The root cause of rising terrorism in the Middle East in recent years has to do with US President Barack Obama's "pivot to Asia" strategy. The strategy and the US troops' withdrawal from Iraq, Afghanistan and the Persian Gulf created a huge room for the rise of terrorism and civil wars in the region.

The "pivot to Asia" strategy is influenced by multiple factors. First, the shale gas revolution helped the US realize its dream of energy independence. Since the importance of oil has declined for the US, the Middle East has lost its strategic magnetism for the Americans. Second, the pivot strategy is based on the concept that East Asia is emerging as the economic center of the world and therefore should be the focal point of US foreign policy. Third, the US perceives the rapid rise of China as a threat, and China's territorial disputes with some neighbors in the South China Sea have given the US an excuse to shift the majority of its naval forces to the West Pacific.