Editor's note: Wang Jin is a research fellow at Charhar Institute. The article reflects the author's opinion, and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

After Trump's announcement of withdrawing U.S. military presence from Afghanistan, it seems that Washington is seeking a full withdrawal from the Greater Middle East region. 

The U.S. has been playing an important role in Greater Middle East region. From the Gulf to the Red Sea, from the Hindu Kush Mountains to the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, the country's dominance has been evident through its active involvement in different wars and conflicts.

As the winner of the Cold War, U.S.'s dominating influence in the Greater Middle East was once accepted by both regional and international society. It was the U.S. who led the Gulf war in 1991 and defeated the ambition of Iraq under the leadership of Saddam Hussein to annex Kuwait, and it was the U.S. who organized the peace process between Israel and Palestine and facilitated peace negotiations between Israel and other Arab states, especially with Syria and Jordan in the 1990s.

It was the U.S. who launched the wars against Afghanistan under Taliban in 2001 and Iraq in 2003 and helped establish new governments and local political systems. It was the U.S. that has been trying to constrain the influence of Iran in the Middle East and has successfully initiated sanctions against Tehran. It is not an exaggeration to say that the U.S. constructed the landscape of Middle East regional and geopolitical structure after the 1990s.

However, U.S.'s dominance in the Greater Middle East also means more investment. Meanwhile, in a region full of various conflicts, divisions, crisis, and clashes that have been deeply rooted into the memories of different ethnic, religious, sectarian and tribal groups, U.S.'s irrational and rash policies that are based on its own ideal calculations and its particular experience that once worked in Europe or North America may finally lead it into a regional unrest and chaos.  

Washington's belief that the political philosophy of the "democratic peace," which argues that more democracies lead to a more peaceful world and help end internal divisions, has only led to unrest and chaos in the region.

The war led by the U.S. in 2003 to overthrow the Iraq regime led by Saddam Hussein, U.S.'s involvement in the war in 2011 to overthrow Omar Mouammer al Gaddafi in Libya, and the war from 2011 in Syria to overthrow Bashar al Assad, not only failed its ideal image of creating a "more peaceful Middle East," but also brought about civil wars, instability, and expansion of extremism and terrorism in the region.

For the U.S., the most important lesson that should be learned from its involvements in the Middle East, as from its involvements in other regional issues, should be highlighted by the importance of regional political diversities and realities. Any political revolutions, transformations and changes should be made based on the regional realities.

The collapse of the ideal "image" of "democratic peace" in the Middle East upheld by the U.S. decreases Washington's willingness to play an active role in the Middle East. Barack Obama's Middle East policy was based on his promise to reverse his predecessor George W Bush's heavily military and political involvement in the region, and Donald Trump rejects to continue U.S. military presence in the region through military withdrawals from Syria and Afghanistan.

U.S. itself has been transformed from an heavily oil-importing dependent state into an oil-exporting state due to the development of shale oil extraction technology, while its relations with its allies in the region, especially with Saudi Arabia and Israel have become the only major concern that attracts its diplomatic attention in the region.

Given the increasing marginalization of Israel-Palestine issue for the Arab world, and establishment of  communication channels between Israel and Arab Gulf states to cope with the expansion of Iran's regional influence, Israel's national security is sufficiently ensured and Trump administration has the confidence to withdraw troops from the Middle East.

U.S.'s withdrawal from Middle East enables regional states like Iran, India, Pakistan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Israel to step in different regional issues, and the geopolitical landscape in the Greater Middle East might witness a new round of competitions in the recent future.

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