U.S. coming under fire from Mideast allies, who see retrenchment

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http://www.latimes.com/world/la-fg-kerry-mideast-20140125,0,7513517.story



Secretary of State John F. Kerry delivers a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where he said that "it is a myth that we are pulling back or giving up or standing down (in the Mideast).... Nothing could be further from the truth."

U.S. coming under fire from Mideast allies, who see retrenchment
By Paul Richter (This post has been corrected, as indicated below)
January 24, 2014, 6:23 p.m.

WASHINGTON — Five years after President Obama vowed to expand U.S. relations with the Arab world and the broader Middle East, his administration is under fire from allies worried that the United States is scaling back its historic role as a power broker and peacemaker despite growing turmoil across the region.

With a bitter power struggle intensifying between Iran and Saudi Arabia and widening crises in Syria, Iraq, Libya and Egypt, Washington's relative lack of influence and involvement has become a diplomatic problem and may be contributing to a growing threat from Islamic extremists, diplomats say.

Senior officials in Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Israel all have complained about what they view as an American retrenchment after the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, with some leaders already beginning to chart policies more independent of Washington than in the past.

Secretary of State John F. Kerry sought to ease those concerns Friday, insisting in a foreign policy address during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that "it is a myth that we are pulling back or giving up or standing down.... Nothing could be further from the truth."