US withdrawal from Afghanistan; Reflection of Rebalancing Strategy

The US withdrawal from Afghanistan is an important component of Washington's return to ”rebalancing” which implies the mobilization of resources in new sensitive areas. The redistribution of power in the international system has led the US to redefine the source of threat (from terrorism to the hegemony) and the focus of threat (mainly from West to East Asia). China's rise over the past three decades has become a major challenge to US hegemony in the Asia-Pacific. Russia is also a challenge to US hegemony due to its strategic expansionism in Europe and Iran due to its regional and nuclear activism in the Middle East. The main question is what goals did motivate the US to withdraw from Afghanistan? The hypothesis is that the main reason and goal of the US to withdraw from Afghanistan is the continuation of its hegemonic position against increasing Chinese influence as the highest priority, then Russia and Iran. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in the context of rebalancing. The research method is descriptive-analytical and explains the reflection of the US rebalancing on withdrawal from Afghanistan in the framework of structuralism approach and the theory of aggressive neorealism.