Over the 500 years, there is no country in the world other than the United States of American which started from scratch and transformed into a superpower. From a nascent state in 1776, the US gradually became a regional power in 1898 after defeating Spain in a war and then emerged as a global power after the end of Second World War. Unfortunately, in 2025 after around 250 years of independence from Great Britain, the US leadership is fast declining. The war in Ukraine and the Israeli attack on Qatar, a close US ally, are clear evidences of Washington losing its writ in global affairs.

Former US Secretary of State Dr Henry Kissinger in his pioneering book on leadership correctly stated that, "leadership is most essential during periods of transition, when values and institutions are losing their relevance, and the outlines of a worthy future are in controversy. In such times, leaders are called upon to think creatively and diagnostically. The leaders as strategist face an inherent paradox: in circumstances that call for action, the scope for decision-making is often greatest when relevant information is at its scantiest." From America's first president George Washington in 1789 to Donald Trump in 2005, one can witness gradual erosion of US leadership in terms of prudent decision-making and use of power for the success and glory of America.

The decline of the US leadership is a reality despite Trump's pledge to 'Make America Great Again'. But the greatness of America is not reflected by letting Israel, its strategic ally, carry out relentless genocide in Gaza and the occupied West Bank and spending........

© The Express Tribune