U.S Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth on Saturday criticised America’s military interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq, saying the prolonged wars lacked clear strategic objectives and drained national focus and resources. Speaking at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, Hegseth a former soldier who served in both conflict zones described the campaigns as misguided exercises in regime change and nation-building that were disconnected from America’s core national interests.
“These costly deviations were not tied to the core and vital interests of the United States,” Hegseth remarked during his address, adding that the wars turned into “endless conflicts” with no coherent endgame.He asserted that the two-decade-long entanglements diverted American attention from the Indo-Pacific, a region he characterised as essential to the United States’ future prosperity and global leadership. “For an entire generation, we ignored the Indo-Pacific,” he said. “President Trump is changing that. We are not making the same mistakes.”
Hegseth underscored the administration’s current emphasis on pragmatic diplomacy, economic engagement, and regional stability. “We’re focused on delivering for the American people, on safeguarding their security, on protecting their economic interests, and on using common sense to preserve peace in the Indo-Pacific,” he stated.
The Indo-Pacific, which spans the Indian Ocean, Pacific Ocean, and the maritime corridors that connect them, is increasingly central to U.S. strategic and economic calculations. Turning to recent foreign policy developments, Hegseth described the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan as “humiliating,” and accused the Biden administration of projecting weakness on the world stage.
He linked several global crises to what he called a pattern of poor leadership under the previous Democratic administration, citing the surge of “21 million illegal immigrants” across the U.S. southern border, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas, a more assertive Iran, and the incursion of a Chinese surveillance balloon into American airspace.
“These are not isolated incidents,” Hegseth concluded. “They are the direct result of indecision and failed leadership — mistakes we cannot afford to repeat.”
