Certainly not the end of the road for America

The future of Afghanistan is yet to be decided, but the debate suddenly turns to the future of the United States after its withdrawal from Afghanistan. This may be the first time in history that there has been a demand to punish a ruler ending the 20 years war. “Pax Americana died in Kabul,” declares a strategic thinker. This is a momentous moment that will lift the curtain on the West’s long dominance, he predicts. Others say the damage could be limited if US President Joe Biden resigns. Some US Congressmen have handed Mr Biden a questionnaire that raised issues such as the Taliban’s acquisition of nuclear weapons. Mercifully, there is no significant opinion on whether the US should not have withdrawn its troops or that the US should re-occupied Afghanistan. Another scholar commentator says, “America has done the right thing in the wrong way.”

define event

To understand America’s current plight, we need to go back to the terrorist bombings of 9/11, which was a game-changing global experience. It changed the world’s geopolitics, determined by the size of the nuclear arsenals of nuclear-weapon states. The most powerful country in the world, which had the ability to destroy the world many times, became powerless in the face of some terrorists who had only knives and forks as weapons. In one fell swoop, the principles of balance of power, mutually assured destruction, and superiority of nuclear weapons went up in smoke with the Twin Towers of New York. Once responsibility for the attack fell on Osama bin Laden and the terrorists in Afghanistan, it was imperative for the US to retaliate by overthrowing the Taliban regime and killing and killing bin Laden.

Benefits of American presence

The US completed its mission in a short time but was not able to back down as the Afghan government was unable to withstand the onslaught of Taliban and other terrorist groups. Neighboring countries including India were also in favor of continuing the US presence. Pakistan played a double game – partners on one side and enemies on the other. It was not a matter of imposing the Americans, but rather being invited to provide a certain stability to Afghanistan. The result of their presence was the spread of relative peace in the region except that Pakistan fattened the Taliban with American leniency. In the process, troops in Afghanistan protected the homeland and the Americans, as the Taliban and other groups were kept in Afghanistan territory.

At this time, when US failures at the time of withdrawal dominate the news, it is worth recalling that the US presence in Afghanistan was successful in controlling terrorism threats for two decades. Given that terrorism has perished in the wider West Asia/Middle East and that attacks and victims worldwide are three to five times higher annually than in 2001 (9/11), the benefits of a US presence should not be underestimated. should, even though the cost was high in terms of American money and lives.

We must also remember that the clear mandate given to Mr. Biden was to clean up the Augean stables abandoned by his predecessor, President Donald Trump, and how the whole world and most American citizens heaved a sigh of relief. The US finally had a predictable, stable and experienced leader to combat the novel coronavirus pandemic and racism in the country and fix its position at the center of the world that the Chinese were hoping to grab. Mr Biden called for a return to the Paris Agreement (climate), to resume talks on the Iran nuclear deal and reassure America’s traditional allies that the US will stand by them. He gave a clear signal to China and Russia that any confrontation would not be tolerated, but would cooperate wherever possible.

afghan exit

The withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan was yet another unfinished agenda that he had inherited and what he did was only to abide by the agreement reached with the Taliban and announce a deadline, in the hope that the Afghan forces would be defeated by the Americans. and was trained and equipped by the Kabul government. Will step into zero. As Mr. Biden pointed out, the decision on Afghanistan was not just about Afghanistan. It was about “ending the era of major military operations for the remake of other countries”. But the chain of events that took place by the end of August 2021 completely erased what should have been a good ending to the partially successful war on terrorism.

Even if the exit turned out to be a disaster due to miscalculations on the part of military advisers – who are condemned by retired flag officers for the tragic and avoidable debacle – to declare it as the end of the road for Mr. The United States is unfair and unfavourable. History is replete with incidents of extreme folly by rulers who survived because of many other mitigating factors in their favor. By those standards, the Biden presidency has every reason to survive.

The decisiveness with which he has handled the wreckage of the exit must be acknowledged. As a true Commander-in-Chief, he stood by his generals and took the blame. He has also not been incited to attack the Taliban or criticize Afghan forces for betraying their patrons. In fact, he went out of his way to announce that the Taliban had been instrumental in facilitating the evacuation, which was completed ahead of the deadline, interestingly enough that it was Mr Biden who set the August 31 deadline. Which was turned into an ultimatum. Taliban.

Many commentators have argued that the Kabul insurgency was worse than Vietnam, Tehran, 9/11, Iraq and COVID-19 because the details of other devastating events lost their acuity with the passage of time. Whatever the magnitude of those events, no president has been held responsible for them and has not been removed.

In the case of US President Gerald Ford, 59% of the people said that he did not deserve any blame. Only 2% attributed him, although he lost the election in 1976. President Ronald Reagan’s audacity in Lebanon was criticized by 60% of Americans in 1984, but he won the election later that year. There were many reasons for these presidents to continue to serve the nation, in some areas reversing. After learning bitter lessons from the experience in Afghanistan, President Biden has no choice but to lead the country. A CNN commentator commented that the withdrawal could cost him the midterms in 2022 and the presidential election in 2024. “They simply couldn’t make an impact.”

no setting sun

Even more unfortunate is the conclusion that America itself lost its place in the world because of the failure of a wise leader or a capable commander-in-chief. The superpower neither sinks nor rises because of any one leader. It is still the most powerful economic and military power around which the entire planetarium of the world revolves. In fact, the world has a stake in ensuring that a democratic nation leads the world, rather than an expansionist dictatorship that has no public opinion to control it. It is the responsibility of the free world to maintain American leadership of the world until a wiser and more benign alternative is found.

Much has been written about the world after America over the years. But it seems that America’s demise, as Mark Twain said of the news of his own death, has been exaggerated.

TP Srinivasan, IFS 1967, is a former Ambassador of India and Governor of India to the IAEA. He is also the Chairman of the Academic Council. Director, NSS Academy of Civil Services, and Director General, Kerala International Center