(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA))
NEW YORK, Sept 21 (KUNA) -- US President Joe Biden said on Tuesday that his country ended 20 years of conflicts in Afghanistan and is opening a new era of relentless diplomacy, of using power, and of renewing and defending democracy.
"We've ended 20 years of conflict in Afghanistan, and as we close this period of relentless war, we're opening a new era of relentless diplomacy, of using the power of our development aid to invest in new ways of lifting people up around the world, of renewing and defending democracy, of proving that no matter how challenging or how complex the problems we're going to face, government by and for the people is still the best way to deliver for all of our people," Biden said in a speech before the UN General Assembly.
"We're back at the table in international forums, especially the United Nations, to focus attention and to spur global action on shared challenges.
"We are reengaged at the World Health Organization, and working in close partnership with Covax to deliver life-saving vaccines around the world. We rejoined the Paris climate agreement, and we're running to retake a seat in the Human Rights Council next year at the UN," he elaborated.
"As the United States seeks to rally the world to action, we will lead not just with the example of our power but, god willing, with the power of our example. Instead of continuing to fight the wars of the past, we are fixing our eyes on devoting our resources into the challenges that hold the keys to our collective future," he mentioned.
"And as the United States turns our focus to the priorities and the regions of the world like the Indo-Pacific that are most consequential today and tomorrow, we'll do so with our allies and partners through cooperation and multilateral institutions like the United Nations to amplify our collective strength and speed, our progress for dealing with these global challenges," he said.
On terrorism, Biden said "We must also remain vigilant to the threat of terror, that terrorism poses, to all our nations, whether emanating from distant regions of the world or in our own backyard.
"The world today is not the world of 2001, though. And the United States is not the same country we were when we were attacked on 9/11, 20 years ago. Today, we're better equipped to detect and prevent terrorist threats and we are more resilient in our ability to repel them and to respond.
"We'll meet terrorist threats that arise today and in the future with a full range of tools available to us, including working in cooperation with local partners, so that we need not be so reliant on large-scale military deployments. One of the most important ways we can effectively enhance security and reduce violence is by seeking to improve the lives of the people all over the world who see that their governments are not serving their needs," he pointed out.
Concerning climate change, Biden said that he would work with Congress to double US funding to help developing countries combat the crisis.
He said along with private capital efforts, the step would meet a goal of mobilizing USD 100 billion to support climate action in developing nations. The steps come as Biden said the world is approaching a "point of no return" in the climate crisis.
He called on nations to "bring their highest possible ambitions to the table," when world leaders convene in six weeks at a climate summit in Scotland.
Biden called on world leaders to unite in fighting climate change, telling those at the UN General Assembly that the crisis is "borderless."
"This year has also brought widespread death and devastation from the borderless climate crisis. The extreme weather events that we have seen in every part of the world - and you all know it and feel it - represent what the secretary-general has rightly called 'code red for humanity,'" Biden told world leaders.
Biden reiterated that scientists and experts are telling the world that "we're fast approaching a point of no return in a literal sense."
"To keep within our reach the vital goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees celsius, every nation needs to bring their highest possible ambitions to the table when we meet in Glasgow for COP26," Biden said. "And then we have to keep raising our collective ambition over time," he added.
Furthermore, Biden declared during his speech that the US would make a USD 10 billion commitment to the effort to "end hunger and invest in food systems at home and abroad.
"At a time when nearly 1 in 3 people globally do not have access to adequate food, just last year, the United States has committed to rallying our partners to address immediate malnutrition and ensure we can sustainably feed the world for the decades to come," he said. He added that the United States would compete, and will compete vigorously, and lead with "our values and our strength."
He said the US would "stand up for our allies and our friends and oppose attempts by stronger countries that dominate weaker ones.
"We're not seeking - say it again - we are not seeking a new Cold War or a world divided into rigid blocks," he said.
"The United States is ready to work with any nation that steps up and pursues peaceful resolution to shared challenges, even if we have intense disagreement in other areas, because we'll all suffer the consequences of our failure," he said.
"We will pursue new rules of global trade and economic growth, level the playing field so it's not artificially tipped in any one country at the expense of others and every nation has the right and opportunity to compete fairly.
"We will strive to ensure basic labor rights, environmental safe guards, and intellectual property are protected and that the benefits of globalization are shared broadly throughout all our societies.
"We'll continue to uphold the long-standing rules and norms that have formed the guardrails of international engagement for decades that have been essential to the development of nations around the world. Bedrock commitments like freedom of navigation, adherence to international laws and treaties, support for arms control measures to reduce the risk and enhance transparency," Biden went to say.
"As we strive to deal with these urgent challenges, whether they're long-standing or newly emerging, we must also deal with one another. All the major powers of the world have a duty, in my view, to carefully manage their relationships so they do not tip from responsible competition to conflict," he said.
In addition, Biden said that the US military will continue to defend "ourselves, our allies, and our interest against attack," adding that the mission "must be clear and achievable."
The US military power must be "our tool of last resort not our first and should not be used as an answer to every problem we see around the world", he said in his remarks before the UN General Assembly.
On COVID, Biden said "Indeed, today many of our greatest concerns cannot be solved or even addressed through the force of arms. Bombs and bullets cannot defend against Covid-19 or its future variants.
"To fight this pandemic, we need a collective act of science and political will. We need to get shots in arms as fast as possible and expand access to oxygen, tests, treatments to save lives around the world," he explained.
Biden said that tomorrow at the US-hosted global Covid-19 summit, he'll be announcing additional commitments from the US to fight Covid-19 around the world to "advance the fight against Covid-19 and hold ourselves accountable around specific targets on three key challenges - saving lives now, vaccinating the world, and building back better.
"We meet this year in a moment of intermingled with great pain and extraordinary possibility. We've lost so much to this devastating pandemic that continues to claim lives around the world and impact so much on our existence.
"We're mourning more than 4.5 million people, people of every nation, from every background. Each death is an individual heartbreak," he said.
He went on to say that this is "a decisive decade for our world" which will "quite literally determine our futures."
On the pandemic, Biden asked: "Will we work together to save lives, defeat Covid-19 everywhere, and take the necessary stem to prepare ourselves for the next pandemic, because there will be another one. Or will we fail to harness the tools at our disposal as more virulent and dangerous variants take hold?"
Moreover, Biden said "the United States remains committed from preventing Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon.
"The United States remains committed to preventing Iran from gaining a nuclear weapon. We are working with the P5+1 to engage Iran diplomatically and to seek a return to the JCPOA. We're prepared to return to full compliance if Iran does the same. Similarly, we seek serious and sustained diplomacy to pursue the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," he declared.
"Democracy remains the best tool we have to unleash our full human potential," Biden said, adding that "the future will belong to those who embrace human dignity. Not trample it. The future belongs to those who unleash the potential of their people, not those who stifle it."
"I continue to believe that a two-state solution is the best way to ensure Israel's future as a Jewish democratic state, living in peace alongside a viable, sovereign and democratic Palestinian state," he said.
"We're a long way from that goal at this moment but we should never allow ourselves to give up on the possibility of progress."
"I stand here today the first time in 20 years the United States is not at war. We've turned the page. All the unmatched strength, energy, commitment, will and resources, our nation are now fully and squarely focused on what's ahead of us, not what was behind."
"To deliver for our own people, we must also engage deeply with the rest of the world," Biden concluded. (end)
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