Secretary of State John Kerry said President Obama and his administration put President-elect Trump in a position to succeed in foreign affairs once he takes office on Friday.
In the New York Times, Kerry wrote that putting diplomacy ahead of force has improved the American standing abroad. He pointed to containing the Islamic State on the ground in Iraq and Syria, the Iran nuclear deal, normalizing relations with Cuba and harming Russia’s economy with sanctions as wins for the Obama administration.
“[M]y hope is that the turbulence still evident in the world does not obscure the extraordinary gains that diplomacy has made on President Obama’s watch or lead to the abandonment of approaches that have served our nation well,” Kerry said.
Kerry added that “diplomacy has helped put the wind at our back, our adversaries on notice about our resolve and our friends by our side.”
Experts widely see the civil war in Syria as one of the biggest blots on the Obama administration’s legacy, but Kerry defended the American strategy and believes it will work in the long run.
Kerry said all options for the conflict were weighed, including a massive influx of American ground troops into the war-torn country. But, the eventual policy taken by the Obama administration was the right path to take, he said.
“I also remain convinced that the formula we pursued to end the agonizing conflict in Syria was, and remains, the only one with a realistic chance to end the war — using diplomacy to align key countries behind establishing a nationwide cease-fire, providing humanitarian access, marginalizing terrorists and promoting Syrian-led talks on creating a constitution and democratic government,” he wrote.
Kerry said the Trump administration will have to learn in office that diplomacy is a tougher job than it appears to be from the outside. He acknowledged that there are many problems still evident in the world, but said the Obama administration is handing it off to the Trump administration in the best possible way, he said.
“I will leave office convinced that most global trends remain in our favor and that America’s leadership and engagement are as essential and effective today as ever,” Kerry wrote.
