US WAR ON TERROR

APA Research Paper

APA Research Paper

Introduction

A “Grand Strategy” is the combined military, economic and political ways to accomplish a state's critical objectives in the international system. The grand strategy of the U.S. had been in a state of change before 2001, as there were no such challenges after the containment of the Soviet Union. The terrorist attacks on the U.S. in September 11, 2001 on the World Trade Centre and Pentagon, have changed the grand strategy discussion leading to a comprehensive reevaluation of U.S. security policy. It may still be too soon to expect this review to be made ??complete or definitive answers to post 9/11-policies as complex as national grand strategy does not change overnight. But as the years have gone by, it is reasonable to ask what this process has been so far, and how the U.S has been able to influence the world with its aim to combat terrorism. (Biddle, 2005)

Discussion and Analysis

The terrorist attacks on the world trade centre and have also changed the way World politics used to operate as these attacks not only gave the reasons to the US administration to access and carry out military operations against the nations, which they though as conflicting to the U.S. interests but also uncovered U.S. vulnerabilities.

As September 11th, 2001 have greatly changed the political landscape in the Muslim world, the United States has shown deep involvement-with its reaction and response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the war on terrorism following the September 11th 2001, and the elimination from power of the Taliban in Afghanistan and of Saddam Hussein and his regime in Iraq-in the matters of the Muslim world, where politics, religion and culture are tangled in complex ways and overlap with the geopolitical interests and objectives of major powers.

US Budget

The US military budget was about $293 billion a year in 2001 which was greater than the military budgets of the following 15 biggest militaries in the world. The US budget has been growing constantly over the years after the 9/11 attacks. The increment has been 40 percent to $427 billion in 2006. It further increased to $647 billion in 2008 which was equal to the combined military expenditures of all the other countries of the world.

Influence on the Alliances

After the 9/11 attacks, Russia realized that US would attempt to push into the Central Asian borders including Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan as part of the US effort to begin the war on terrorism against Taliban and al-Qaeda. Initially, Russia did not want the US to increase its influence in those regions and in an attempt to so, met with Northern Alliances. It was decided that provisions would be provided to keep the US military out of the region. But later Uzbekistan announced that it would let the US to use its base for some of its military operations. Russia soon realized that other countries would also get influenced by the US power and dominance like Uzbekistan, and switched its strategy by ...