The reagan doctrine charles krauthammer

Assigment 1: Reagan Doctrine

POL 300

Luciana Quispe

Professor Rufus Robinson

11/13/2014

In the political history of the United States, the Presidential Doctrines hold an important position. Presidential Doctrines can be defined as a set of principles applied by a President to a particular situation and a President may formulate a doctrine alone or with the help of advisers within the entire administration. Therefore I chose The Reagan Doctrine which played an important role in lessening the global influence of the Soviet Union but it also played a crucial role in shaping the long foreign policies of the US.

1). The Reagan Doctrine and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan

Ronald Reagan was the 40th President of the United States. His famous doctrine came in to effect in 1981 and lasted till 1989 which played a significant key role for the collapse of the Soviet Union. The Reagan doctrine was the expansion of his predecessor President Carter’s doctrine. An article by Charles Krauthammer in NY Times magazine states “The Reagan Doctrine proclaims overt and unashamed American support for anti-Communist revolution” (Krauthammer, 1985). As it proclaimed, the Reagan Doctrine delivered what it promised, support of the Afghan freedom fighters to over throw Soviet Regime and end the illegal occupation of Soviets in Afghanistan. The Reagan Doctrine was very important because it defined American interests around the globe and its determination of preventing communism from expanding.

Rapid overexpansion of the Soviet Union in East Asia, Indies and Middle East was a worry to all U.S. presidents during the cold war. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan began on the eve of 1979 Christmas. The U.S. was under the impression that the initial interest of the Soviet Union would eventually become Middle East and its valuable oil fields. Finally, after communist influence over Middle East the Soviets then would try to capture the Strait of Hormuz to control the entire oil industry. After Vietnam direct involvement would have been a lethal mistake, especially against a super power like the Soviet Union. Although, once the Soviet’s collapsed the Americans realized how over exaggerated their power was, the Americans chose involvement through newly established Afghan insurgents. According to Paul Lagon, “the Reagan Doctrine, as a specific case, pledged aid to insurgents battling against the pro-Soviets” (Lagon, 1994). Reagan administration believed that the resistance might drive the Soviets out of Afghanistan, but the insurgents defeating the Soviets were never an option. The Mujahedeen were motivated by putting a bounty on the head of every Soviet soldier killed. The U.S. did not want fingers pointed at if U.S. made weapons were captured by the Soviets. The qualities of the weapons were questioned, but the Reagan administration assured the insurgents that enough weapons were delivered to fight the communist. All the U.S. had to do was give the insurgents help, only more if it and they would fight America’s war against the Soviets. This served the idea of making the Soviets pay in blood for the devastating results in Vietnam, this brilliant foreign policy, as known as the Reagan Doctrine, was a master piece of Reagan and his administration.

2) Explicate the diplomatic doctrine the president followed, with reference to specific actions or events that occurred:

Some political analysts see the Reagan Doctrine as an innovation. Paul Lagon stated that “The scope of the Reagan Doctrine was both broader and narrower than the predominant Cold War political doctrine of the United States, containment” (Lagon, 1994).The Reagan Doctrine served in Central America as well. Anastasio Somoza of Nicaragua was overthrown by the revolutionary front in 1979. Besides Afghanistan and Nicaragua, The Doctrine also showed its effects in Angola and Cambodia as well. The assistance of the insurgencies, especially in Afghanistan, destabilized the pro-Soviet regimes in the process of consolidating totalitarian control over their countries. The first key element of the Reagan Doctrine was the balance of power. During the Cold War Era the US and the Soviets often clashed over Capitalism influence on the world against Communist influence. Soviet controlled over east Europe had made it clear to the United States that its biggest threat was Soviet Union and enemy was communism. Beyond the Central and Eastern European countries each superpower had allies in remote areas of the globe. Most of these peripheral nations favored the Communist idea of governance. The Reagan Doctrine’s key move came into effect in 1986, over the objections of many advisers, the Reagan administration decided to arm the mujahedeen with Stinger anti-aircraft missiles. Losing the air strike advantage the Russians were held back on the ground operations by CIA trained leaders of the insurgents. Another legendary figure was Osama Bin Laden. Diggins states “Bin Laden was the son of an enormously rich Saudi family, was the legend ‘heaven sent ’man for the mujahedeen” (Diggins, 2007). He was then regarded as a humanitarian and one of the authentic freedom fighters. Trained by the USA, supplied by the Saudis and again the US, Bin Laden later planned and organized attacks on the U.S. Neither Reagan nor anyone from his administration would have known that he would become the most wanted and hated enemy of the U.S. decades later.

3) Describe the effects of these diplomatic efforts for the U.S. and other countries:

The Reagan Doctrine was implemented in four countries in varied regions of world. James Pontuso states that “The Reagan Doctrine was implemented in a number of ways, depending on local conditions. It employed political, economic, military and psychological warfare in support of indigenous anti-communist forces” (Pontuso, 2011). The Doctrine’s hidden agenda was to prevent direct intervention of the US forces and use proxies as the fighters for U.S.’s interest. In support of president Reagans doctrine countries like Egypt and Saudi Arabia supported the U.S. in Afghanistan and provided financial and arms assistance. Adkin and Yousaf states that “the mujahedeen were supplied with Chinese weapons, particularly rockets and antiaircraft guns” (Adkin & Yousaf, 1992). In fear of Soviet invasion Iran also provided assistance to the U.S. in applying the Reagan Doctrine in Afghanistan, though it was more of a financial support. According to Adkin and Yousaf, “the most important support was provided by Pakistan. Direct control and assistance to the region was provided.” (Adkin & Yousaf , 1992). Therefore, U.S. had supports from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iran, Pakistan and other Persian Gulf States.

4) The Advantages and disadvantages of the Reagan Doctrine:

In conclusion, President Ronald Reagan and his famous Reagan Doctrine are most well-known for his dealings on US foreign diplomacy, especially with the Soviet Union. Notably, the major advantage of the Reagan Doctrine was the collapse of the Soviet Union, which eventually became the best and only globally known advantage of the Reagan Doctrine. Demise of the Soviets gave the US an enormous gains and advantage in the military technology industry. Roskin & Berry highlights that “when Soviet power collapsed between 1989 and 1991, we saw that we had overestimated Soviet strength for decades” (Roskin & Berry). The Reagan Doctrine shows that Reagan may have been one of the few people living in the U. S. in the early 80s who actually believed that communism would collapse. However, as well as having advantages the Reagan Doctrine also had disadvantages. First disadvantage is that policies such as our support of the mujahedeen in Afghanistan created grounds for "blowback" as people armed by the United States did not necessarily share the interests of the United States beyond resisting Soviet. Another example would be US support for both sides, but especially Iraq, in the Iran-Iraq war. Just like Bin Laden, Saddam Hussein became an enemy as well. President Reagan was recognized by the major leaders of the world for his hard line arrogance skills. He used his doctrine to cripple the Soviet economy by increasing military spending through US economy. Although, the Reagan Doctrines successful application to Afghanistan was a critical factor to the demise of the Soviet Union, it certainly wasn’t the only factor. What was unexpected by the successful Reagan Doctrine is that the insurgents and their influencing leaders like Osama Bin Laden would end up being the enemy to cause the most dramatic event in the history of the United States of America.

REFERENCES

· Adkin, M., & Yousaf, M. (1992). The Bear Trap (Afghanistan’s Untold Story). Lahore, Pakistan: Jang Publishers.

· Diggins, J. P. (2007). Ronald Reagan. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. (Mark Adkin, 1992) DOI: www.wwnorton.com

· Krauthammer, C. (1985, April 01). The Reagan doctrine. Time Magazine,

· Lagon, M. P. (1994). The Reagan doctrine sources of American conduct in the cold war's last chapter . Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers.

· Pontuso, J. (2011, July 01). Reagan doctrine. Retrieved from http://www.firstprinciplesjournal.com/articles.aspx?article=713&theme=frmar&loc=b

· Roskin, M., & Berry, N. (2010). lr: the new world of international relations. (8th ed.). Pearson Education, Inc