US Presidential candidates clash over foreign policy

The rivals argued over foreign policy issues such as the the Arab Spring, Iran, China's rise and more in a feisty 90-minute head-to-head on Monday evening in what was the third and final presidential debate held two weeks ahead of the election.

Obama accused Romney of being "all over the map" on foreign policy, while Romney hit back by saying that Obama had failed to uphold American global leadership.

The forum at Lynn University reportedly featured fewer interruptions that characterised the second debate held last week in New York.

At the time, Obama came out swinging after his lacklustre performance in their first head to head in Denver, Colorado.

In the third and final debate, Romney attacked the Obama administration, accusing him of allowing the Middle East to be engulfed by "tumult".

He cited civilian deaths in Syria, the rise of al-Qaeda affiliates in North Africa and Iran's nuclear programme, while however steering clear of his previous suggestion that the Obama administration had mishandled last month's Libya US consulate attack, which left four Americans dead.

"I congratulate him on taking out Osama Bin Laden and taking on the leadership of al-Qaeda, but we can't kill our way out of this... We must have a comprehensive strategy."

Obama hit back that he was glad that Romney had recognised the threat posed by al-Qaeda, reminding the former Massachusetts governor that he had earlier this year cast Russia as America's number one geo-political foe.

However he used the gaffe to portray Romney as a foreign policy novice who lacked the consistency needed to be commander-in-chief.

Obama said Romney had backed a continued troop presence in Iraq, opposed nuclear treaties with Russia, even when they had broad bipartisan backing, and accused the Republican of flip-flopping over whether the US should have a timeline for leaving Afghanistan.

The president said that he had ended the war in Iraq and "decimated" al-Qaeda's leadership, allowing the US to prepare a responsible timeline for withdrawing from Afghanistan.

Romney, whose book is called No Apology, accused Obama of having gone on "an apology tour" after he took office and of saying at the time he would meet "all the world's worst actors", including leaders from North Korea and Iran.

Obama hit back, by saying that "Nothing Governor Romney has just said is true, starting with the notion of me apologising," a claim Obama labelled the "biggest whopper" of the campaign.

Both candidates will be returning to the campaign trail for a final two weeks of wooing voters in swing states.

Already four million ballots have been cast in early voting in more than two dozen states.