Obama Sets Vision for Foreign Policy

Local Editor

US President Barack Obama articulated a new initiative aimed at responding to "terrorist" threats by calling on Congress to provide $5 billion in training operations to countries neighobouring Syria, at a US Military Academy  on Wednesday.

Speaking at the US Military Academy's commencement ceremony, Obama stressed the importance of nonmilitary options in addressing the world's challenges, as well as collective international action.

He called on Congress to finance what he called a "Counterterrorism" Partnerships Fund, with up to $5 billion to provide training in these operations to vulnerable countries like Iraq, Lebanon and Turkey, all neighbors of Syria.

"We have to develop a strategy that matches this diffuse threat; one that expands our reach without sending forces that stretch our military too thin, or stirs up local resentments," Obama declared. "We need partners to fight "terrorists" alongside us."

He further stated, "Here's my bottom line: America must always lead," adding that, "If we don't, no one else will. The military that you have joined is and always will be the backbone of that leadership. But US military action cannot be the only- or even the primary - component of our leadership in every instance."

He previewed two upcoming policy changes: a deeper US involvement in the Syrian crisis, and a plan for American troop levels in Afghanistan in 2015 and 2016, winding down by the time he leaves office in January 2017.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team