Joe Biden has taken an oath as the 46th President of the USA, an office which once used to be the most powerful person of the world with potentially strong authority to the degree of breaking or making the governments of the world with virtually no resistance, particularly, in the Third World countries. But, this time the world seems to have been tremendously changing while discouraging the solepower from using unlimited power to rein the rest of the world.
Economic interdependence and geographical interconnectedness with various nations to ensure maximum benefits from the emerging multi polar world is increasingly becoming the political as well as strategic priority of many of the nations of the world. All nations have risen to the consciousness of their vested interests. The public is no longer as in the bygone days indifferent to the interest of their nations and now they have begun to question the decision makers. In this age of IT, it is becoming comparatively tough for the World Bank and IMF to exploit the under resourced and under developed countries of the world. In this political consciousness and transition, there is a less in store for the USA. The policies driven by the passion of establishing the USA as the power militarily capable enough to obtain an unconditional surrender from all its adversaries who dared awake its wrath by refusing to accept its demands. Now China, Russia, Germany, Japan, France and India are the emerging forces with their own distinctive models of governance.
The USA under Donald Trump has undergone an extreme radical change. He indeed attacked and exploited the divisions of the country in the worst possible ways to seek his interest. During his rule brutal racial, ethnic, religious and ideological controversies were rampant and turned into physical violence. He brought to the surface the long buried hostilities of black and white with his policies based on bias, discrimination and hatred. Blacks have been marginalized, rudely tortured, abused and made to feel as if they have an inferior background, and are not capable of claiming equality with the white supremacists. Women and homosexuals were also the victims of the indignation of the state-appointed guardians of morality. Those who put innocent people to death to establish their violent existence aligned with fear and danger, wandered freely under the state patronage. Any legislation regarding a ban on the gun at public places met with furious opposition, hindrance and criticism of Republicans.
No less did Trump shock friends abroad. Trump repeatedly and consistently claimed with confidence of America being first. It sounded as if saying hell to the rest. With this self-serving rhetoric which was central to his campaign, but which disappointed his allies who stood by him in all conflicts, the USA launched alone against so-called enemies and made heavy sacrifices.
He will have learnt that the belligerent and aggressive policies with so-called enemies have brought nothing other than economic burden, reduction in reputation, ruthless destruction, and fueled extremism, earned hatred and hostility and loss of precious lives. With highly sophisticated weapons and war experience all over the world, still it has not only failed to subdue the insurgency in Afghanistan but is impelled to withdraw from that country, leaving its agenda unfinished.
Biden has pledged to end animosity, polarization, populism and fascist tendencies to make the USA for all a land safe, secure and prosperous. He removed a ban on immigrants. He promised to root out division, hatred, racial disharmony and inequality with fair governance aimed at uplifting the image of the country and equal opportunities, rule of law, and the only supremacy of the Constitution. He understands that the regressive and oppressive instruments introduced by Trump against dissidents and particularly black communities, contain in themselves potentially disastrous consequences to shake down the pillars of the country in the shape of a civil war. We have witnessed similar disturbing incidents of chaos, agitation and protests as a reaction to the policies of Trump. Keeping this in view, Biden will have to strive a lot to rehabilitate, restore and renew the trust and hope of the marginalized communities through better services and inclusive politics to make them feel they are equal citizens with equal rights and dignity in the USA. What makes his task tough is the hostile attitude of many of the Republicans who presumably, will continue to throw up hindrances in legislation in Congress. Still Trump enjoys considerable influence on many of the Republicans and on the privileged classes of society. To ignore him totally, will be like underestimating his power.
Concerning self-destabilized regions of conflict, we can say that Biden is more predictable than Trump, as he understands that it is much harder to bring peace than to wage a war in a foreign land whose culture, tradition and way of life are quite contradictory and irreconcilable with that of Americans. He will have learnt that the belligerent and aggressive policies with so-called enemies have brought nothing other than economic burden, reduction in reputation, ruthless destruction, and fueled extremism, earned hatred and hostility and loss of precious lives. With highly sophisticated weapons and war experience all over the world, still it has not only failed to subdue the insurgency in Afghanistan but is impelled to withdraw from that country, leaving its agenda unfinished.
If it does so, without a political settlement achieved through the intra-Afghan dialogue, it will prove a historical fallacy. Afghanistan is a less homogenous society. There are peoples with distinctive ethnic backgrounds like Tajiks, Uzbeks, Hazaras, Baluch and Pukhtoons, with varying religiosities. It is true that Pakhtoons are the dominant ethnicity which constitutes a major resistance block of insurgency against the USA, and have almost 65 percent control of total Afghanistan. But making a settlement with the Taliban, excluding the rest of the ethnicities, will further lead to destabilization. The only possible solution of this turmoil lies is in mutually acceptable government formation with the inclusion and representation of all the parties and peoples of Afghanistan. Surely, war has failed, so let peace be given a chance.
