U.S. Strategy in the Middle East: Confronting an Uncertain Future

Despite the lengthy and extensive U.S. military campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq since 9/11, American influence in the Middle East appears to be waning as events take on an internal momentum of their own. In different ways, Presidents Obama and Trump have struggled to limit American military engagements in the Middle East in order to focus on the growing security challenges posed by a resurgent Russia and increasingly assertive China. Dr. Christopher Bolan is the Professor of Middle East Security Studies with the U.S. Army War College’s Strategic Studies Institute.