When President Barack Obama announced the beginning of a drawdown of U.S. forces from Afghanistan last month, he offered a memorable justification: "America, it is time to focus on nation-building here at home."
The line could be interpreted — and was interpreted — in many ways. A realization that open-ended wars just don't fly in a time of economic and fiscal challenges? A doff of the cap to antiwar or political isolationist forces? Or a clever way to push for renewed infrastructure spending in the United States?
Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations and an alum of both Bush administrations, saw something different: the seeds of a new foreign policy doctrine, which he has dubbed a "doctrine of restoration."