The sun is setting on Joe Biden's term as President. He stepped aside from his bid for re-election when he realised that his party no longer supported him, donors were withholding cash and the calls for him to step down were getting louder.

What will historians make of his foreign policy? I think that he presided over three disasters that highlight that he was not a good foreign policy president and that he was served by a poor team. First of all, he withdrew from Afghanistan, effectively paving the way for the return of the Taliban. All the progress made since 2001, was set back at the Taliban regained power. Biden clearly had enough of the conflict and wanted out. This signalled to America's allies and adversaries that America was in retreat.

Vladimir Putin took that as his cue to invade Ukraine in 2022. Luckily he overestimated his own army and underestimated the strength of the Ukrainians. Biden provided military support to Ukraine but never enough to tip the balance. They asked for fighter jets and tanks, but these weapons always arrived after long debates and delays. Ukraine should have been supplied with offensive weapons sooner to put pressure on the Russians. Biden has been too quick to believe Russian threats of nuclear weapons. The reality is that Putin knows that use of nukes would be a political disaster for him. Despite that, Biden refuses to let Kiev use missiles to strike inside Russia. He is afraid to Putin's reponse. In effect President Zelensky's hands are being tied.

Lastly, Biden has failed to apply any leverage on Israel re Gaza. The terrorist atrocities on 10/07 were horrorific, but Israel's response has been disproprtionate. The entire area has been decimated. Over 40,000 Palestinians killed and thousands more displaced. Has this brought about peace? The United States still continues to supply Israel with weapons even as PM Netanyahu thumbs his nose at any calls for a ceasefire. A deal was almost reached in July with Hamas. That crashed when Israel assassinated a senior Hamas commander. Israel is only able to prosecute this war because the bombs, the artillery shells and the fighter jets keep coming.

Netanyahu is also fully aware that this is an election year and Biden is keen that Kamala Harris succeeds him. In key states New York and Florida , the Democrats need the Jewish vote. Biden is reluctant to upset that electoral arithmetic.

Historians will not be kind to Joe Biden. Granted, he was not as erratic as Donald Trump, but it is a very low bar. Biden was not an inspiring leader or a bold thinker. No major initiatives or new arms control treaty. For all his faults, Jimmy Carter produced the Camp David Accords and a peace treaty between Israel and Egypt. Biden cannot claim to have achieved anything like that.