Unilateral vs. multilateral approaches in US foreign policy: A case study of Iraq and Afghanistan war

Amna Mahmood; Tatheer Zahra Sherazi; Muhammad Wajeeh Shahrukh

doi:10.47264/idea.jhsms/2.1.1

Authors

Amna Mahmood Department of Politics and International Relations, International Islamic University, Islamabad, Pakistan.
Tatheer Zahra Sherazi Department of Politics and International Relations, International Islamic University, Islamabad, Pakistan.
Muhammad Wajeeh Shahrukh Department of Politics and International Relations, International Islamic University, Islamabad, Pakistan.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.47264/idea.jhsms/2.1.1

Keywords:

War on Terror, US War on Terror, US-Iraq Relations, US-Afghan Relations, Afghan War, Iraq War, Post 9/11 US Policy

Abstract

During the US war on terror in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Bush administration vindicated its pre-emptive military strikes against Iraq and Afghanistan on the grounds of national security. The strike was carried out under the Bush administration’s National Security Strategy which asserts the right of the US to take unilateral military action against rogue states and terrorist organisations in order to prevent or to reduce an assumed attack by such groups or organisations against the United States. However, the action by the administration has been widely criticised as not being in conformity with international law and United Nations Security Council resolutions. It has been investigated in this research paper that the hidden motive behind the attacks on these two countries was not merely the elimination of the terrorist groups and to stop their activities and to destroy the weapons of mass destruction but also to capture the oil, gas, and other natural resources in order to sustain the fastest growing economy of the US and western countries. The present study provides a comparative analysis of the two approaches, unilateral and multilateral, which were incorporated into US foreign policy with special reference to the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

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