2021-08-19 23:57:32
#theeconomist
The costs of ending America’s mission in Afghanistan are diverse and increasing. And President Joe Biden is to blame, writes our Lexington columnist.
Having vowed to restore America’s alliances, Mr Biden has strained them, while handing an advantage to Russia and China.
The president has made a farce of his pledge to restore human, especially women’s and minority, rights to foreign policy. When challenged on those failures, he shirked responsibility and played to the gallery, instead blaming Afghans and his predecessor.
For 20 years America’s Afghanistan venture has been governed far more by political exigencies in Washington, DC—anti-terrorism, pro-development and so forth—than the situation in Afghanistan.
But the catastrophe that Mr Biden was required to answer for this week was not the decades-long failure in Afghanistan, or even his decision to draw a line under it. It was his administration’s astonishing lack of preparedness for the Taliban’s takeover.
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