FACTBOX: Obama running mate Biden on foreign policy

(Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has picked Delaware Sen. Joseph Biden as his vice presidential running mate. Biden, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is viewed as a leading voice on international affairs.

Following are some of his foreign policy positions over the years:

-- In the 1990s, Biden was among the first to call for active U.S. leadership to end Serbian aggression in the Balkans, urging that the arms embargo on Bosnia be lifted. He also demanded that the United States and NATO investigate war crimes in the Balkans and argued for NATO air strikes against Serb forces.

-- Before September 11, 2001, Biden argued that the Bush administration's focus on missile defence had diverted its attention from more likely threats. In a speech the day before the attacks on the United States, he said the new threat would not come from an inter-continental ballistic missile, but in "the belly of a plane" or from a "vial smuggled in a backpack" or a bomb in the hold of a ship.

-- In 2002, while calling Iraq a threat, he argued against a unilateral attack, calling it the "single worst option." Biden and Sen. Richard Lugar, the top Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee, drafted a resolution to authorize the Bush administration to take action to remove weapons of mass destruction, only after exhausting diplomatic options. Bush opposed that and negotiated another resolution that gave him broad powers. Biden criticized it, but voted for it and said Iraq's refusal to cooperate with United Nations weapons inspections justified military action.

-- Biden slammed Bush's handling of the Iraq war, and said the administration "should level with the American people" on the cost and length of the Iraq commitment. He urged Bush to call a summit of allies and broaden the coalition to take "the American face off" the occupation.

-- In 2006, Biden, who has made at least eight trips to Iraq, co-authored a plan aimed at ending the sectarian violence in Iraq that called for federalizing the country and giving Kurds, Shiites, and Sunnis "breathing room" in their own semiautonomous regions.

-- He has urged strong U.S. and international action to prevent genocide in Darfur, and wrote legislation to engage NATO and provide additional sanctions to pressure the Sudanese regime.

-- In Pakistan, he has called for a more visible U.S. presence and more effort to promote democratic institutions. He urged unconditional financial aid for projects such as schools, roads and health care and support for government and social reforms, but linking security aid to performance.

-- Earlier this month, Biden travelled to Georgia to meet with President Mikheil Saakashvili in the midst of the country's conflict with Russia. He said he left "convinced that Russia's invasion of Georgia may be the one of the most significant event to occur in Europe since the end of communism."

(Writing by Vicki Allen in Washington, Editing by Sandra Maler)