President Biden strode into office promising to restore competency and credibility to U.S. foreign policy after four years of President Trump’s shoot-from-the-hip diplomacy, but several international missteps and crises abroad have undermined his claim.
Since taking office, Mr. Biden has often reacted slowly to crises and offered an ever-shifting, if not contradictory, foreign policy. From the chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal to the $6 billion hostage deal with Iran that preceded a horrific Hamas terror attack on Israel, questions are piling up about Mr. Biden’s handling of world affairs.
The president at times even misstated U.S. foreign policy, forcing his aides to walk back his remarks, suggesting that his expertise wasn’t as advertised.
As president, Mr. Biden’s rocky response to various international crises keeps raising doubts about his pledge to return stability to the world stage. The bungled U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 shattered the public’s confidence in him, and his approval ratings never recovered. His foreign policy approval rating is at a net negative 16 percentage points, according to a Real Clear Politics average of recent polls, with 56% disapproving and 40% approving.
“The United States is in a far weaker position today than it was under previous administrations,” said Nile Gardiner, a foreign affairs analyst at the conservative Heritage Foundation. “Biden has projected weakness. You see it in the Middle East, where Iran has gained a lot of ground. You see it in Asia with growing Chinese aggression. The Biden administration is flailing on the world stage.”
A profusion of new overseas crises has raised fresh doubts about Mr. Biden’s ability to manage international emergencies.
The Hamas attack on Israel is the latest threat to both Mr. Biden’s foreign policy goals and his reelection message that his competency has made the world safer. So far, roughly 3,100 people in Israel and Gaza have died, including 27 U.S. citizens. Another 14 Americans are missing, and the Biden administration believes some of them are being held hostage by Hamas in Gaza.
The surprise attack comes as the war in Ukraine rages on with no resolution in sight; China is continuing its saber-rattling on Taiwan as well as making inroads in North Africa. Iran has become stronger and North Korea is testing a missile capable of reaching the U.S.
In his address to the United Nations last month, Mr. Biden said of China that his administration seeks “to responsibly manage the competition between our countries so it does not tip into conflict.” On Ukraine, he said Russia alone bears responsibility for the war, and he urged allies to keep providing aid to Kyiv.
“We have to stand up to this naked aggression today and deter other would-be aggressors tomorrow,” Mr. Biden said.
Some of the regional crises have bled into each other.
Many experts believe Russian President Vladimir Putin only moved ahead with his long-held dream to annex Ukraine after witnessing the messy U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Mr. Biden’s response to these perils has been one of containment, a Cold War policy relic in which the U.S. tries to deter aggression by isolating a nation from the world stage, both diplomatically and economically.
The U.S. has responded to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine by imposing sanctions against Moscow as well as supplying more than $100 billion in aid to Kyiv. Mr. Biden is also seeking billions of dollars in aid to Israel, but he has offered hardly any other response besides dispatching “hostage experts” to the Middle East to bring the Americans home. He also sent a carrier group to the eastern Mediterranean as a warning to other nations to stay out of the fight.
Some say Mr. Biden’s overall containment strategy has projected weakness on the world stage and emboldened U.S. enemies. Gregg Roman, a political advisor to Israel’s deputy foreign minister, said using a policy left over from the Cold War isn’t going to cut it with today’s threats.
“The U.S. has to have a foreign policy check on itself,” he said. “No more de-escalation and no more containment. The attack in Israel is a moment for Joe Biden to step up and shut Hamas down. I hope he takes it or history will not forgive him.”
Others say there is little the U.S. can do to influence adverse foreign governments and that Mr. Biden deserves credit for keeping the U.S. and its allies on the same page in the face of these threats.
“These crises are not of the president’s own making and the implication that the Biden presidency caused these crises is utter nonsense,” said Robert Lieberman, a political science professor at Johns Hopkins University. “He’s been a steady hand for foreign policy.”
White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters earlier this year that Mr. Biden’s “fine feel and touch, particularly on issues of foreign policy and national security, is very, very distinct. And he asks great questions.” He said Mr. Biden “is absolutely confident that he can continue and will continue to do what he has to do to defend our national security interests and advance our foreign policy overseas.”
As the global challenges mount, Republicans are blasting Mr. Biden’s handling of world affairs.
“From his disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal to now, Joe Biden’s weakness has emboldened our enemies around the world. Americans and our allies are less safe under his absent leadership,” said Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel.
The president’s critics blamed him for the events in Israel, saying his recent hostage deal with Iran — which involved unfreezing $6 billion in Iranian funds in a hostage swap — freed up money for Iran to fund the Hamas attack on Israel and plan for others.
The White House had disputed these claims, saying there is no evidence that Iran funded the Hamas attack, adding that none of the $6 billion has been spent and it is still sitting untouched in a bank account in Qatar. They also say the transfer was necessary to bring home five Americans imprisoned in Iran.
On Friday, however, Mr. Biden reversed course. The U.S. and Qatar agreed to block Iran’s access to the $6 billion. Biden officials did not say the funds were permanently frozen.
Mr. Gardiner argues that the hostage deal underscores the problem with Mr. Biden’s strategy of pursuing containment instead of taking a more aggressive approach with adversaries.
“There is a deep-seated appeasement mindset that exists in the White House,” he said. “The unfreezing of $6 billion in reserve is just a stunning act of stupidity and we will see the long-term results over the coming years.”
Beyond Mr. Biden’s clinging to his containment strategy, others say his biggest foreign policy blunder has been alienating U.S. allies in the face of a crisis.
Less than a month after the botched Afghanistan withdrawal, Mr. Biden angered France when he didn’t inform the longtime ally of Australia’s decision to pull out of a $66 billion submarine contract with Paris in favor of a deal with the U.S. and the U.K.
Mr. Biden had repeatedly blasted Saudi Arabia’s crown prince for the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. That put Mr. Biden in the unenviable position of having to travel to Saudi Arabia last year and begging them to increase oil production when energy prices soared as a result of the Ukraine war. But just ahead of the 2022 midterms, Saudi Arabia cut production in a stunning rebuke of the president.
While Mr. Biden has insisted that his support for Israel is unwavering in the face of the Hamas attacks, it comes after he spent months hectoring and berating Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his judicial reforms.
Such criticisms have damaged U.S. relations in the Middle East at a time when the Israel-Hamas war could spin out into a greater conflict that endangers the whole region. For example, Iran and Saudi Arabia earlier this year brokered a peace deal after years of bitter relations. The deal was brokered by China, a role traditionally held by the U.S.
“He’s treated Israel in an appalling fashion,” Mr. Gardiner said. “He’s kept Netanyahu at arm’s length and has been very cold toward Israel. When you combine that with his appeasement of Iran, it’s been absolutely shameful.”
Mr. Biden’s claim of foreign policy prowess stems from his Washington resume. He spent five years as the Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman during his time as a senator from Delaware. He was given a significant foreign policy portfolio as vice president for eight years under President Obama.
Yet, history has repeatedly found Mr. Biden on the wrong side of major foreign policy decisions throughout his career.
The foreign affairs blunders inspired former Obama Defense Secretary Robert Gates to say Mr. Biden “has been wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades.”
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.