In his limited remarks on foreign affairs, assuring Americans that he placed primacy on their security was the President's primary message. He did point to guarding human rights, promoting equitable development, and responding to the catastrophe in Haiti as examples of the his administration's belief that the destiny of the U.S. is "connected to those beyond our shores." But this message was overshadowed by his brief outline of the strategies in Iraq and Afghanistan, where the emphasis is on supporting the national governments and their military forces to assume control of the struggle against insurgents and to build greater security for the people. Pakistan, where the government is reluctantly pursuing its own counter-insurgency campaign, which has displaced hundreds of thousands of people, went unmentioned.
The President missed an opportunity to stress the importance of resolving displacement crises in the context of creating more stable societies and building greater security in the front line countries of the war on terror. He maintained that the U.S. will be "responsibly leaving Iraq to its own people." But more than four million Iraqis remain displaced either within the country or in the region, and even under current circumstances few see the possibility of returning home any time soon. If further violence erupts, as is very likely with the U.S. drawing down its forces, displacement may actually increase this year. Yet there is little evidence that the administration has thought through the humanitarian implications of their Iraq strategy.
Similarly, in the case of Afghanistan, the talk is all about winning hearts and minds and investing in long-term reconstruction, while many of the several million Afghans refugees who have returned to the country over the past decade have not been able to resettle and still struggle to meet their daily needs. As for Pakistan, gaps in the humanitarian response due to lack of access provide an opening to insurgent groups to tend to the needs of the displaced, which enhances their credibility and undermines U.S. security.
Greater recognition of these realities, and how the administration plans to respond to them, would have been a welcome addition to President Obama's State of the Union address.