Joe Biden promised on Thursday his White House would end "forever wars" and reassert American leadership to combat authoritarianism and global instability, which he says are proliferating under President Donald Trump.
"The world's
democracies look to America to stand for the values that unite us. ... Donald
Trump seems to be on the other team," Biden said during a foreign policy
speech in New York.
The remarks
offered Biden a chance to ignore his Democratic rivals and instead return to
the issues he's most comfortable talking about: foreign policy and the dangers
posed by Trump. The decision to make the speech reflects Biden's belief that
his experience as a longtime senator and former chairman of the Foreign
Relations Committee combined with his eight years as vice president distinguish
him in the crowded Democratic field.
But that long
record also subjects the 76-year-old to criticism, particularly from
progressives who cast Biden as someone who enabled a more hawkish foreign
policy establishment.
Acknowledging
those forces, Biden promised to "end the forever wars in Afghanistan and
the Middle East" and terminate US involvement in the Yemen civil war. He
did not mention his support for the 2003 invasion of Iraq under President
George W. Bush, a vote that hampered Biden's brief 2007 presidential campaign
and continues to draw criticism from 2020 rivals, including Vermont Sen. Bernie
Sanders and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, who both voted against the action as
House members.
Republicans,
meanwhile, have gleefully noted that Biden opposed the 1991 US military
actions to drive Iraq out of Kuwait and that he was an outlier in the Obama
administration in warning against the raid that ultimately killed Osama bin
Laden, the mastermind behind the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Biden said on
Thursday that military force will always be an option, but must be a "last
resort" with a "defined" and "achievable mission." He
also pledged to "elevate diplomacy as the principle tool of our foreign
policy" and said he'd rebuild expertise in the State Department after an
exodus of diplomats under Trump.
His promise to
stop "endless wars" also came with qualification; he called for
removing most combat troops from Afghanistan in favor of "narrowly
focusing our mission" in the region.
Biden envisioned
not just a return to the traditional US role in the post-World War II international
order, but to use that power and influence to take on 21st century problems. He
emphasized the urgency for US-led global alliances to combat the climate
crisis, forge new trade agreements to create a more even international economy
and to recommit to nuclear proliferation.
Biden said in the
first year of his presidency, he would convene a global summit of democracy,
bringing together political and civic leaders, along with those from the
private sector. He singled out "tech companies and social media
giants" as necessary partners.
"I believe
they have a duty to make sure their algorithms and platforms are not used to
sow division here at home," he said, referring to US intelligence
findings that Russian actors have used social media platforms like Facebook to
influence American politics.
Biden's speech
comes at a time of trade tensions with China; increasing tensions with Iran,
with Tehran announcing that it is enriching uranium beyond the levels allowed
by a 2015 nuclear deal that Trump had abandoned; and after Trump again met with
North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, with the Republican president saying he
wants to restart negotiations for a nuclear agreement.
As president,
Biden said he'd re-engage with Iran if it returns to the limits of the 2015
deal. He also promised to immediately rejoin the Paris climate agreements and
urge the world's leading economies — principally China — to commit to
aggressively curtail carbon emissions.
He noted Beijing
is investing heavily in cleaner energy technologies but still financing
traditional fossil fuel projects with trillions of dollars in infrastructure
development across Asia.
Biden's
commitment to ending longtime wars stopped short of pledges by more liberal
rivals like Sanders and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who link military
conflict to a world economy dominated by multinational corporations, including
those that have benefited from the trillions of dollars the US has spent on
foreign wars in recent decades.
Though he didn't
nod to that military-industrial complex, Biden argued that economic conditions
play a fundamental role in global stability. He criticized Trump's reliance on
tariffs but tacitly agreed with the president's notions that some economic
rivals have taken advantage of the US, specifically China.
Biden said he'd
push for trade agreements that don't hamper the international exchange of goods
but don't disadvantage American consumers or business, while also holding China
accountable for intellectual property abuses.
"There's not
going to be a back to business-as-usual on trade," he said. "We need
new rules. We need new processes.”