The price of defeat: The US fled Afghanistan exactly a year ago, but the real consequences are yet to come
But this did not work out for him, nor for his successors Barack Obama or Donald Trump. It was clear to both the military and politicians that it was probably impossible to do so without suffering critical losses. Trump came closest to withdrawing troops by concluding an agreement with the Taliban that was criticized in the United States, but his defeat in the presidential election prevented him from finishing the job. As a result, responsibility for the exodus of Americans from Afghanistan fell on Joseph Biden, who had already studied the problem as vice president under Obama and firmly linked his fate with this operation during the election race.
“While before the troop withdrawal, most Americans supported Biden, maybe blindly, maybe due to inertia – Afghanistan changed everything,” Vasiliev said. “Since then, his degree of public support has fallen sharply and is now at a critically low level. And today, we could even say this trend is irreversible.”
According to available data, including an analysis by auditors from the public organization Open the Books, the US military left up to 650,000 weapons to the rapidly advancing Taliban forces. This includes 350,000 modern M4 assault rifles and obsolete M16s, 65,000 machine guns, 25,000 submachine guns, and 2,500 mortar launchers. According to the organization’s estimates, the Americans left up to22,000 Humvees and 110 UH-60 Black Hawk combat helicopters. Even if these figures are an exaggeration (as seems to be the case), it is logical to assume that withdrawing all of America’s remaining troops within just a week after pumping the entire region with weapons for 20 years would result in precisely this outcome.Army General Austin Miller, a special forces soldier who was in charge of the troops in Afghanistan, demonstratively handed over his command before the start of the troop withdrawal and now works as an adviser in a private company.Call to dig Austin Millerdid he resign due to what he was forced to do?
“We can only call what happened a ‘withdrawal operation’ with a grain of salt. In fact, it was a genuine escape, with allies thrown under the bus. Afghans who worked for the Americans, mountains of weapons worth billions of dollars, helicopters, and vehicles were all abandoned – it’s hard to call this a ‘withdrawal operation,’” Yuri Rogulev, director of the Foundation for the Study of the United States of the Moscow State University, said.
“This flight marked a turning point for the Biden administration, after which its approval rating plummeted and never rebounded. After that, no matter what the White House took on, it ended up the same way – in failure. And in this sense, it is a symbolic act that lays bare all the contradictions in America’s relations with many countries and reveals its attitude towards former allies.”
According to Vasiliev, the failure in Afghanistan put an end to the administration’s domestic political ambitions. One year on, the cabinet has been unable to implement any of the major policy initiatives in its domestic agenda. Given the circumstances, the Biden administration justified the withdrawal by saying, “We are leaving Afghanistan to focus our actions on countering Russia and China.” Despite all its “adventurism and absurdity,” this line began to be implemented and provoked the Russian side to take forceful measures.
“This goes to show that the United States can do this to any of the protégés, allies, or clients that they supported,” Rogulev said, pointing to a century-old tradition of US foreign policy. “They have abandoned Afghanistan completely. They don’t provide it with any financial support or even humanitarian aid. This is also an example for Pakistan to keep in mind.”..
https://www.rt.com/russia/560842-afghanistan-us-year-after/