The US’ Betrayal To European Allies – OpEd

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A 9/11 reference can be seen on the US evacuation flight that saw Afghan stowaways fall to their deaths; perhaps a reference to an end to avenging for the sake of the 9/11 harrowing incident. It was as if the US wanted to send a veiled message to the people of the world.

However, in spite of evacuation from Vietnam in which the United States was able to take more than 130 thousand Vietnamese aid and forces with it, the Kabul airport fiasco which was a complete behavior, determined that the American century is over and the bell of the end of American superpower rang around the world.

The mission of the USA and NATO in Afghanistan was never nation-building; therefore, their efforts to create a centralized and integrated democracy were futile. Even, the failed promised democracy, in addition to the cost of 2.26 trillion dollars, resulted in the death of 241 thousand Afghans and becoming refugee of 6 million of them.  Thousands of other Afghans also lost their lives due to the consequences of war and starvation. The USA “Mother of All Bombs” was tested in Kandahar resulting in mass murder, and while American fighters had dropped 27,000 guided bombs on the people of Afghanistan from 2013 to 2019 with about 70,000 flights, one of the American military planes brought Mullah Baradar” from Kandahar to Kabul with due respect. To put it in a nutshell, the achievement of 20 years of US and NATO forces gave the Taliban the opportunity to re-establish their rule.

Therefore, what has been the achievement of the liberal world order on the first anniversary of the American withdrawal from Afghanistan for the United States and even its European allies? With the failure of the nation-building project in Afghanistan, the neoconservatives of the United States handed over Kabul to a group they called terrorists, extremist Salafis, jihadists, and violators of human rights. Is it possible to ask the White House about the reason for the occupation or withdrawal from Afghanistan or the damages left behind?

America’s first goal in this 20-year mission in Afghanistan, as emphasized by President Biden at the time of withdrawal from Afghanistan, was to prevent the creation of a new hub for terrorist attacks against America’s vital national interests. The second goal of the United States in Afghanistan was to challenge Europe’s political and economic competition with the United States. Europe, which promotes its strategic independence by balancing relations with Russia and the United States in transatlantic relations, was forced to hand over its political custody to Washington during 20 years of trouble in Afghanistan, and today it is also a strategic slave of the United States in the Ukraine war.

The parliamentarians of the European countries were correct to say that Europe failed in Afghanistan because Washington did not consider the Europeans worthy of informing its exit. However, it must be said that the Europeans did not fail in Afghanistan, but the US imposed a political and military defeat on its European allies in a secret agreement with the Taliban.

However, it is a pity that the sudden fall of Ashraf Ghani’s fake government, which was completely under the support and authority of America, not only did not accelerate the trend of European allies turning away from the United States began during the four-year period of Trump and continued in the Biden administration- but also affected the geopolitics of Europe to such an extent that Russia took the opportunity to invade Ukraine.

Despite the fact that the United States has become weaker, more unstable, and more unreliable after the Afghanistan scandal, the European allies of the United States have no choice but to follow Washington and now even they pay the costs of restoring global leadership of the United States in the Ukraine war.

In fact, the same policies of the presidency of Bushes and Trump, have been adopted in a tougher way in the Biden administration. Creating a crisis in Iraq and Afghanistan, the rule of the Taliban on the borders of China, the continuation of the policy of systematic containment of Russia and China, and putting pressure on Europe to pay more for enjoying the security provided by the United States have been the main thrusts of the US foreign policy in the last few decades, and they continue to this day.

Now and on the brink of the third millennium, the United States keeps on confronting China and Russia, in addition, it has ignited more than 40 wars since 2001most of which have been waged in the Middle East, and now it is grappling with Russia in Ukraine. It is quite crystal clear that the United States because of following the “strategic evil” will proceed with its aggressive and destructive behavior. 

Therefore, the USA has created a world based on barracks and garrisons, with its 800 bases around the world, and even the global order is nothing but the United States’ interpretation of these barracks. 

The wars of the USA in the Middle East reveal that the United States and its allies are capable of starting wars but cannot create peace and stability. Therefore, the Middle East can no longer be an ideal destination for the Middle East and Ukraine war has created the opportunity to enter a new field.

Sarah Neumann

Sarah Neumann is a professor of political science and teaches political science courses at Universities in Germany

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