US President Joe Biden has rejected any responsibility for the debacle in Afghanistan. Behind this is a new US great power policy that cares little about the interests of the Allies. They are now trapped.
The Allies, especially Germany, believed that Afghanistan was about nation building – building bridges, schools and democratic institutions, almost like in Germany after the fall of the Nazi regime.
But for the US it was about something else. They wanted to destroy al Qaeda’s power base in order to get revenge for 9/11 and make it impossible to repeat it. Even under Obama, Biden planned to withdraw US troops.
Now he has achieved his goal and is vehemently defending it. The original goal of the US operation, the eradication of al-Qaeda, had been achieved, he said. Bin Laden – the US “Public Enemy” – was also killed.
The US President emphasized that the mission was never to create a united democracy. That’s the whole point. Those US allies who believed otherwise have fooled themselves and their citizens.
Especially in Germany people believed in the fairy tale of “nation building”. Other EU countries such as France or the Netherlands took a more sober view of the situation and withdrew from Afghanistan years ago.
But now they too are trapped. Because diplomats, civilian personnel and local staff have stayed – and must be withdrawn in dire need. Without US help, the Europeans are not even able to do so.
But the strategic trap is even worse than the logistical trap. The Europeans have made themselves prisoners of the new US great power policy, which actually has only one goal: to keep China in check.
S. Biscop from the Belgian think tank Egmond writes:
If anything, abandoning Afghanistan puts the US in a stronger position to engage in great power politics, for it ends a drain on resources for what actually was but a strategic distraction. At the same time, Russia and China have to worry a lot more about potential spill-over of instability now that US and NATO troops are gone (rather than immediately reaping opportunities in what will likely remain a very volatile country).
Afghanistan: The End of a Strategic Distraction
For this goal, Biden is ready to make many, even great sacrifices. First he dropped the resistance against the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline – and betrayed (at least subjectively) the interests of Ukrainians and Eastern Europeans.
Now he is leaving Afghanistan to its fate – regardless of those Afghans who believed in Western values and freedoms, and regardless of the allies, who embarrass themselves in their helplessness in the eyes of the world public.
But the EU and NATO are still not ready to face the bitter reality. NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg speaks of “progress” and “prosperity and democracy” in Afghanistan.
When asked, he is not even ready to name those responsible for the debacle. Even NATO has let itself be led into the trap by the USA – but Stoltenberg cannot or does not want to admit that …
See also “Kabul Case: Guilty Silence in Brussels” and “NATO still has no plan”