State Department officials say that a broad transition of diplomatic
resources is in the works, with many diplomats to be reassigned away
from Iraq and Afghanistan in favor of “great power competition” with Russia and China.
This suggests that the diplomats aren’t actually going to China and
Russia, but rather are going to various nations along their periphery to
drum up diplomatic tensions between the two nations and other nations
in their regions.
Some drawdown is likely to be fairly simple. The US Embassy in Iraq, for
instance, is vastly oversized for the nation’s importance to US
interests. It is unclear, however, whether the Afghan peace talks will
as easily support a drawdown.
Either way, it’s clear that the US priority is drumming up further
hostilities toward Russia and China on the international scene, and that
is where a growing amount of the State Department’s resources will be
going.
US to Reduce Diplomats in Iraq, Afghanistan to Focus on Russia and China
Officials say priority is now 'great power competition'
Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.
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