A. M. VYSOTSKY Post-graduate student of MGIMO (U) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia Keywords: USA, Middle East, revolutions, Islamists, multipolarity The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 launched a new phase of American policy in the Middle East. The way was opened for military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq under the banner of the fight against Al-Qaeda. 10 years after the beginning of this stage in the modern history of the region, Osama bin Laden, a symbol of global terrorism and the leader of Al - Qaeda, was eliminated. The decade of the "war on terror" has weighed heavily on the economy and politics of the United States. At the same time, profound but hidden changes were taking place in the realities of the internal political development of the Arab-Muslim world. The combination of these circumstances can lead to a symbolic outcome - Bin Laden's death is likely to be a reason for the United States to start the process of withdrawing from Afghanistan and, in a broader context, to start the process of distancing itself from new Middle Eastern stories. In turn, such behavior of the United States will mean the need to find a new regional "balance of power" - a process that is not easy at all times, and in the current realities of the Middle East - fraught with large-scale destabilization. By eliminating the leader of Al-Qaeda, Washington can reasonably claim that the "9/11 task" has been successfully completed: the main organizer of the terrorist attacks has been killed, and Al-Qaeda itself has lost serious influence on Afghan affairs. A previously well-defined divide between al-Qaeda and the Taliban (with the former as a war, and the latter as a window for compromise) will help Washington break the Afghan impasse without significant image losses. Such a move will contribute to the fight to reduce defense spending and, in general, to solving the vital task of reducing the budget deficit for the United States.1 In addition, this measure will ha ... Read more