The US Middle East Policy In Post 9/11 Era

Middle East the mother of civilisations is one of the very few regions of global politics which have remained the hot spots and orbits around which the global power game revolved uninterruptedly. In beginning it was due to its geopolitical location as it is at the crossroads and a trade link between big Asian, African and European countries turned the region into a trade hub. Then the life changing discoveries of natural resources, particularly of oil and gas in the region as well as the industrial revolution in other parts of the world increased strategic importance of the region at the global level. The adoption of policy of securing control over the resources by global powers gave new shape to the political structure and configuration, like disintegration of Ottoman Empire and creation of new political entities in the region. In addition to that the break out of the First and Second World Wars, creation of Israel as well as the emergence of the Cold War are such events that transformed the region into a battle ground for the global super powers which ended at the collapse of the USSR in 1992 and emergence of the US as the dominant global power. No doubt after the emergence of uni-polar global order, the region saw a phase of peace and end of the war gaming on the part of the big powers but the US continued to dominate the regional political structure. During the same period the region also experienced one of the toughest periods of inter-state wars, first the decade long Iraq-Iran war and then the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait which added more fuel to the already increasing division and hatred among the regional countries.