"I believe it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures.
I believe that we must assist free peoples to work out their own destinies in their own way.
I believe that our help should be primarily through economic and financial aid which is essential to economic stability and orderly political processes."
These are the words that Henry Truman, the 33rd president of the United States, spoke in a speech in 1947. These became the foreign policy of the United States and it allowed her to perform an influential role with a cover of super power around the world. Truman Doctrine was a type of foreign policy whose basic aim was to stop the expansion of Soviet politics and geography during Cold War. Mr. President promised to overcome communist uprisings in Greece and Turkey. Generally, US Congress was not directly involved in it but Congress allocated financial aid for Turkish economy and militants. This doctrine meant a helping hand to those states which were threatened by Soviet Union. That very doctrine became basis of NATO establishment. Historians often quote Truman’s speech with reference to statistics of Cold War.
Truman justified his doctrine on two reasons. According to him, the victory of Soviets in Greece might endanger Turkish stability which may affect and weaken the stability of Central Asia. Truman was willing to stop the thread of threat because security of area was highly important for American strategy. Secondly, America must aid continuity of democratic governments and provide a shield against sovereign slavery.
With the help of same doctrine, the United States pulled Russia out of every region in which she stood firm on her philosophy and power. Russia shrunk from USSR to just Russia and the US filled that gap. When USSR broke up, 15 new states came into being. That was Russia’s biggest defeat. Russian influence waned and American grew. The ongoing Russia-US Cold War was occasionally seen in real war. The fall of East and West Germany and Berlin Wall proved to be a clear victory for the United States in Europe. Pakistan was formulating its foreign policy under US influence from day one. Slowly the United States openly has its own strong economy and allies. With the help of these allies, they began to form and strengthen their own allies all over the world, creating a state of civil war in these countries. Every country that obstructs the United States would have overthrown its government and new leadership grew up under American supervision.
In Afghanistan, when it came to dealing with the United States, Pakistan welcomed the United States with both hands and fought a war whose effects stayed late in our country. Pakistan went into Kalashnikovs, opium and other ruining elements. For jihad, Pakistani youth were recruited on religious grounds and sent to Afghanistan in order to defeat Russia under cover of religious obligation. The crop of jihadis was planted which started spreading the stench of terrorism in Pakistan and made it difficult to identify the enemies of the state and state institutions. The wave of terrorism that lasted for a decade, proved bad for the country's tumultuous institutions, places of worship and unarmed citizens were hit directly.
This terrorism was fueled by countries that did not want the state of Pakistan to flourish in any case. Peace on the eastern and western borders became a dream. In cooling and extinguishing this fire, Pakistani Security forces had to carry out a number of operations in which numerous civil and military lives were sacrificed. U.S. Operations in Afghanistan swamped Afghan territory, with allied stakeholders, including the United States, sinking. Pakistan in return received extremism, sectarianism humiliation among international community. It has been two decades proving all this wrong.
Truman Doctrine divided the world into two blocks. One American and the other Russian block in which different countries remained as rival partners. At number three were countries that did not divide into these two blocs. On the basis of same America built military bases in Asia, Europe and Africa, and intervened, leaving a lasting impression of change. The American ideology was to deal with the threats to aid and democratic governments. For these two main reasons, the United States entered where there was Russian influence or communist style government.
In the 21st century, the United States added war on terror to this theory and continued its doctoral system, which currently exists in one form or another. The US economy is no longer as strong as ever and the global landscape has changed. US pressure and influence are taking U-turn. Instead of Russia, China is now an economy that is hitting the US economy. The slogan of the previous US President Trump in which he willed to make America great again shows American defeat and frustration in the accomplishment of this doctrine.
