West Asia At War: Repression, Resistance and Great Power Games

by Talmiz Ahmad

This was followed by the Eisenhower Doctrine of January 1957: it provided that a West Asian country could request American economic assistance or aid from the US’s military forces if it was being threatened by armed aggression. Eisenhower authorized the commitment of US forces ‘to secure and protect the territorial integrity and political independence of such nations, requesting such aid against overt armed aggression from any nation controlled by international communism’. While communism was identified as the principal target of this doctrine, most observers then understood that it was largely directed at curbing Arab nationalist aspirations – particularly those represented by Nasser, who was seen as building close ties with the Soviet bloc.