To fight against the devastating power of the images coming from Afghanistan by an argument, however elaborate it is, seems an impossible task. However, this is what Joe Biden attempted on Monday, August 16, in a solemn declaration made at the White House. After a weekend spent at Camp David, the Democratic president defended “Firmly” the American withdrawal and wanted to reintroduce a semblance of coherence in the chaos. Here he is faced with the most serious crisis of this start of the presidency, outside of Covid-19, whose long-term impact on American public opinion remains to be measured. Foreign policy does not really fascinate the population. But America’s idea of itself seems here to be engaged.
The coherence claimed by Joe Biden is that of his foreign policy: focused on rivalry with China, refusing all human, military and financial waste in endless external commitments. This argument weighs little in front of the impression of rout and improvisation which escorts the American withdrawal. A withdrawal “Difficult and messy”, conceded the president, while defending his “Commitment”. “The events we are seeing now are sad proof that no amount of military force would have made it possible to achieve a secure, united and stable Afghanistan, known in history as the graveyard of empires,” he added, expressing an old conviction.
The United States, he continued, never set out to “Build a nation” in Afghanistan. ” Our mission (…) was never meant to create a centralized unified democracy ”, underlined the president, specifying that the single objective “Remains today, and always has been, to prevent a terrorist attack on American soil”.
Donald Trump questioned
But Joe Biden admitted that the takeover of the country by the Taliban had been surprisingly rapid. An elliptical way of evacuating the rout of military and civilian experts, who had not anticipated such a lightning scenario, rather retaining a schedule of several weeks or several months. The responsibility of the American president is directly engaged because of his political eagerness to conclude the withdrawal. Joe Biden highlighted the disaster deployment of 6,000 soldiers to ensure the evacuation of civilian personnel on site as well as threatened Afghans, especially those who worked for the United States. Joe Biden promised a use “Devastating” force to the Taliban, if the latter attempted to obstruct these evacuation operations.
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