While the immediate priority of Barack Obama's incoming administration in the US is to put together an economic stimulus plan, the new President will nevertheless face huge foreign policy challenges which he cannot afford to overlook.
Obama's first foreign policy priority is to restore America's moral authority and leadership of the free world and to revert to multilateral diplomacy. Transferring the detainees at Guantanamo to face a proper trial in the US (as has already been indicated will happen) as well as banning the use of torture on suspected terrorists will be a good start.
Iraq is a huge challenge facing the new President. Obama had promised to withdraw American troops from the country within 16 months of taking office. There is no doubt that the war in Iraq went terribly wrong soon after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein and that both Iraqis and Americans have had to pay a terrible price in this conflict.
However, it is also true that the 'surge' did have a stabilising effect since it began one-and-a-half years ago, although the situation remains volatile. If within 16 months Iraq can take care of its security needs and Obama manages to convince Iraqis to agree to genuine political reform, then he can stick to his election pledge. If not, withdrawing the troops anyway will be a gamble.
Iran and its nuclear ambitions will definitely feature on Obama's agenda from day one. He has promised to speak to President Ahmadinejad without pre-conditions and the world will be watching him closely. Experts believe Iran is close to acquiring nuclear weapons and this will almost certainly be Obama's first foreign policy test.
Iran and the US have had no direct contacts since the 1979 revolution (except for talks last year between diplomats on security in Iraq) and we will have to see whether face-to-face talks between the two presidents will ease tensions and lead to some sort of compromise over Teheran's nuclear programme.
The Middle East is crying out for the US to re-assume its role as an honest broker between Israel and the Arab world. The Palestinians are still far away from statehood and America's standing in the Muslim world is at an all-time low. Obama needs to commit the US to the Middle East peace process, something which was only done in the final year of George Bush's presidency. America's genuine commitment to a Palestinian state and a more balanced approach when engaging with Arabs and Israelis will also help lessen the appeal of Al-Qaeda in the Muslim world.
The situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan will require the urgent attention of the new President. Obama promised in his campaign to increase the number of US troops in Afghanistan where a resurgent Taliban has caused increased casualties among coalition forces and Afghan civilians. He also pointed out that the threat to America from Al-Qaeda came more from Afghanistan than from Iraq. However, I believe he should support the idea of negotiations with the Taliban (not with Al-Qaeda), as ultimately that country needs a political solution to its conflict.
The instability in nuclear-armed Pakistan is worrying. American attacks on suspected Taliban strongholds within Pakistani territory, are, I believe, wrong, and only serve to further radicalise public opinion in that country. During one of his debates with John McCain, Obama said he would support such attacks. I think that was a mistake. Pakistan is a key ally of the US in the fight against terrorism and it should be treated as one. America must help stabilise Pakistan and win over the hearts and minds of the population in a massive public diplomacy exercise.
How to deal with an increasingly assertive Russia is another huge challenge for Obama. The day after America voted, Russia announced plans for the deployment of nuclear missiles close to Poland's border to 'neutralise' America's missile shield plan in Poland and the Czech Republic. This came soon after the conflict in Georgia and President Dmitry Medvedev was obviously already trying to test the President-elect.
Dealing with Moscow will not be easy. However, it is definitely time to re-engage with Russia, which is a key player on the world stage, and a fresh approach to relations between the two countries is needed.
Relations with China always present a challenge to the US President. We don't know much about Obama's views on US-Sino relations, but he will have to balance concerns over human rights and the lack of political reforms with the fact that China is a political and military giant and is on its way to becoming an economic one. The new President's first test will come when he has to decide early next year whether to sell F-16s to Taiwan.
Other key foreign policy issues for Obama are backing a new treaty on climate change, facing the threat posed by North Korea's nuclear ambitions and having to deal with precarious situations in the Congo, Zimbabwe and Darfur. Perhaps the fact that Obama's father was Kenyan might encourage him to play a more direct role in helping African nations overcome their problems.