Kerry and Hagel Defend U.S. Engagement Abroad in Face of Criticism
By STEVEN ERLANGER and THOM SHANKER, NYT
FEB. 1, 2014
MUNICH — The American secretaries of state and defense on Saturday presented an emotional defense of the Obama administration’s engagement in international crises in the face of widespread European and Middle Eastern criticism that the United States was retreating from a leadership role.
Speaking here at the Munich Security Conference, the most important trans-Atlantic security gathering, Secretary of State John Kerry expressed some exasperation with the criticism, rejecting “this narrative which frankly has been pushed by some people who have an interest in trying to suggest that the U.S. is somehow on a different track.” He went through a litany of American involvement in places like Afghanistan, Libya and the Middle East, saying, “I can’t think of a place in the world where we’re retreating.”
But at the same time, Mr. Kerry did not mention the American “pivot to Asia” that has been the source of European concern for several years. Nor did he, at least in prepared remarks and a brief question-and-answer session, have much to say about the turmoil in Ukraine, which Washington is seen to have largely left in the hands of the European Union.
(More here.)
FEB. 1, 2014
MUNICH — The American secretaries of state and defense on Saturday presented an emotional defense of the Obama administration’s engagement in international crises in the face of widespread European and Middle Eastern criticism that the United States was retreating from a leadership role.
Speaking here at the Munich Security Conference, the most important trans-Atlantic security gathering, Secretary of State John Kerry expressed some exasperation with the criticism, rejecting “this narrative which frankly has been pushed by some people who have an interest in trying to suggest that the U.S. is somehow on a different track.” He went through a litany of American involvement in places like Afghanistan, Libya and the Middle East, saying, “I can’t think of a place in the world where we’re retreating.”
But at the same time, Mr. Kerry did not mention the American “pivot to Asia” that has been the source of European concern for several years. Nor did he, at least in prepared remarks and a brief question-and-answer session, have much to say about the turmoil in Ukraine, which Washington is seen to have largely left in the hands of the European Union.
(More here.)
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