Afghanistan withdrawal: Biden dismantles himself and America’s future

There is nothing left of Joe Biden, who presented himself as a sensitive global citizen during the election campaign, after the Afghanistan debacle. Worse still, he doesn’t even succeed with his strategy. That will take revenge.

Joe Biden took office seven months ago, and it is time to ask: is this really the man the Americans voted for? The man we know from the election campaign was a soul. Always wet eyes when only the name of his deceased son was mentioned. Always worried about the empty chair at the family table where a person should have sat who had just died of Covid-19. A carer who promised an ice cream to every child he met and who felt responsible for everyone and everything.

A receiver, not a sender, someone who listened and asked questions, who didn’t always say “I” but “we all”. A global citizen who says “America is Back!” and saw himself on the world stage as a reliable partner of the free world – against China and Russia. Someone who was definitely not Trump, who did not want to lie, but wanted to act and speak clearly, truthfully and transparently, who wanted to admit mistakes and not shift responsibility. The silverback among politicians who – unlike the young people who ran for the office besides him – had 50 years of experience to look back on, who knew world politics like the streets of his hometown Wilmington.

Biden shrugs defiantly

That man, that nice Mr. Biden, is – shockingly – gone. Disappeared. We see a president pointing a finger at others and claiming that the Afghans are to blame and that he has only inherited the Afghanistan problem. Who ignored the warnings of impending collapse – yes, there were – and pulled the trigger within a few months. Who now claims that everyone was surprised by the rapid advance of the Taliban. Who defiantly claims that bureaucracy and chaos were inevitable. Who finds the pictures of the airport heartbreaking, but then shrugs his shoulders. And he says that Afghanistan’s security is no longer in the American interest.

If I were American and had voted for him, I would feel badly duped now. Has Biden always been like that? Or did he surround himself with the wrong advisors? Does he hope that everything will somehow go well? That the Americans, disinterested in foreign policy as they are, somehow don’t care about Afghanistan? And that the USA, as usual, is always looking ahead and soon forgetting what happened?

Biden not even successful

We do not know what Joe Biden thinks and why he is doing this right now. And that’s part of the problem. What we see is a Joe Biden who is neither credible, nor caring, nor empathic, nor transparent, nor reliable, nor responsible. US voters would probably let him get away with all of that.

But Biden isn’t even successful at what he’s doing in Afghanistan. And that will take revenge, bitter revenge, also for the world outside. A successful Biden could have protected the US from Trump and his offshoots for a few years. If Biden dismantles, he dismantles America’s future.