Chaotic pullout from Afghanistan casts doubt on Biden's promise to allies

Criticism of Biden for his measures in Afghanistan 1:01

Washington (CNN) -

In his visit to Brussels earlier this summer, President Joe Biden was firm in his message to American allies.

"America is back," he declared in the lobby of the European Union headquarters, repeating a mantra he had uttered at almost every stop on his first overseas trip, during which the leaders welcomed him like a balm for four years of anguish of the Trump era.

"It is overwhelming in the interest of the United States of America to have a great relationship with NATO and with the EU," Biden said.

"I have a very different vision than my predecessor," he added.

Two months later, the same group of allies is now wondering what happened to that Joe Biden.

The humiliating end of the war in Afghanistan has fueled persistent concern over a "America First" foreign policy that some allies fear may not have completely disappeared with former President Donald Trump.

And the chaotic fall of Kabul, which caught American officials off guard and sparked a major scramble by the United States and other countries to evacuate diplomats and Afghans who aided in the war effort, seriously undermined Biden's promise to return the war. competition to American foreign relations.

What Biden said about the chaos in Kabul 0:49

The contradictions in Biden's speech and the situation in Afghanistan

The Taliban's takeover of power in Afghanistan has created an uncertain fate for Afghan women and girls.

That casts doubt on Biden's repeated insistence - even this week - that human rights will be at the "center of our foreign policy."

Some fear that the pandemonium triggered by the US withdrawal could cause countries like Russia and China - the very places where Biden hopes to reorient US foreign policy - cast doubt on the reliability of the United States.

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• Afghanistan's currency collapses to record lows.

  What's next for the country's economy with the Taliban?

"China and Russia are making a killing saying, 'Is this your partner?'" Said David Petraeus, the retired general who commanded forces in Afghanistan and was a former CIA director, describing a message from Beijing and Moscow intended to undermine America's global position.

"European leaders are questioning [the United States], despite the success of the EU summit and the G7 meeting and everything else, because many of them, if not all, wanted to stay," he added.

"This is not how the allies are treated"

Everything has developed with little communication from Biden himself, who waited 48 hours after the fall of Kabul to speak with a foreign leader.

He phoned British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday afternoon and spoke with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday.

The White House said lower levels of government made regular calls focused on logistical or operational issues. However, the leaders of other countries have found time to speak with each other: as of Wednesday, Merkel had spoken with the leaders of Great Britain, France, Italy, Pakistan, Qatar and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

The complicated crisis in Afghanistan has taught both Americans and leaders of foreign capitals some new things about the still-new president, whose four decades in public life had given him an air of familiarity.

Some of his more pronounced political characteristics, such as empathy and optimism, have been replaced by a

colder

realpolitik

.

His promise to restore competition in government has been undermined by scenes of chaos and confident predictions that turned out to be wrong.

Criticism of Biden for his measures in Afghanistan 1:01

"It is a lack of communication, of honesty, with the American people and with allies around the world, who are deeply disappointed with a Biden administration that they believed would be much more multilateral, especially on an issue where the allies have been 20 years fighting with the Americans, "said Ian Bremmer, director of the Eurasia Group.

"The decision on how and when to withdraw was made unilaterally by the Americans, and that is not the way to treat your allies, frankly," he added.

World leaders question Biden's execution of Afghanistan withdrawal

Already irritated by the way in which Biden decided to end the war, the leaders of the countries that fought alongside the United States now openly question how the pullout was carried out.

"This is an especially bitter development. Bitter, dramatic and terrible," Merkel said during a news conference this week.

Behind the scenes, people familiar with the matter say she has been more critical of Biden's decision, telling members of her party that "internal political reasons" led her to decide to withdraw.

• Afghanistan, minute by minute: the Taliban take control of the country

In Britain, Boris Johnson has walked a tightrope, hoping to maintain his close working relationship with Biden.

But, at the same time, he acknowledges the anger of many in his party - and even within his own government - towards the US withdrawal plan.

This Wednesday, in Parliament, the Conservative deputy who chairs the Foreign Affairs committee reprimanded with particular vehemence Biden's attempt to blame the situation in Afghanistan on the country's defense forces.

"To see your commander-in-chief question the courage of the men I fought with, claim they fled, is shameful," said Tom Tugendhat, who served in Afghanistan.

"This doesn't have to be a loss, but at this point it seems like it," he said.

Did US intelligence foresee crisis in Afghanistan?

1:03

Following Johnson's conversation with Biden, Downing Street said the prime minister stressed "the importance of not losing the gains made in Afghanistan over the past 20 years, of protecting ourselves against any emerging threat of terrorism and of continuing to support the people of Afghanistan. "

Also France and Canada

Frenchman Emmanuel Macron was already a staunch defender of a European security policy less dependent on the United States.

This Monday, he warned - in a speech - that "Europe cannot assume by itself the consequences of the current situation" and aroused anger by saying that France must "protect itself from a wave of migrants" from Afghanistan.

And Canadian Justin Trudeau, who like Macron faces reelection, has already endured criticism from his country's conservatives for "abandoning" Afghans after the fall of Kabul to the Taliban.

He has not yet spoken with Biden, but during a press conference on Wednesday, he wanted to highlight his consultations with another American leader: former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

• What's behind Biden's defiant response on Afghanistan?

"[Clinton] shares our concern for Afghan women and girls," she said, describing a phone call she had with Clinton this week.

"She welcomed our efforts and urged Canada to continue our work," he said.

The United States "created the conditions for NATO's decision" to leave Afghanistan

Biden will face the G7 again next week during a virtual meeting that Britain, which currently leads the group under its rotating presidency, scheduled as the situation in Afghanistan deteriorated.

There are two other major global conferences scheduled for the fall: the United Nations General Assembly, which the US hopes will be largely virtual, and the G20, in Rome, where Biden will again try to convey American leadership abroad. .

The president can still point to a long list of ways in which he has distinguished himself from his predecessor, from rejoining the Paris climate agreement to full acceptance of NATO, which Trump viewed with skepticism.

And Afghanistan, while currently the center of international attention, is not the only issue facing Biden and his foreign counterparts.

But even in other areas, Biden has shown a willingness to ignore international input.

The administration's announcement on Wednesday that booster doses of the Covid-19 vaccine will be offered to all Americans this fall was in direct opposition to the World Health Organization's call for all doses available go to places where even the first vaccinations are delayed.

With Trump, would the same have happened in Afghanistan?

1:47

"Biden is the president of the United States to the American people, but the level of indifference towards allies and the average citizen outside the United States is beginning to irritate many who have been there with Americans for a long time," Bremmer said. .

A different vision

Other analysts have played down the risk that the situation in Afghanistan poses to the position of the United States.

"I think there is an idea that America's credibility has been fundamentally undermined, or permanently undermined," said Aaron David Miller, a former Middle East negotiator and CNN Global Affairs analyst.

"I don't believe it, I really don't. We have invested 2,300 American lives, tens of thousands of Afghans, billions of dollars, and we have fought well ... but it was time to go. And I can't imagine that anyone, perhaps with With the exception of the Ghani government, will eventually hold us responsible for this departure, "he explained.

Biden's responsibility for Afghanistan

Biden and his team have repeatedly argued that leaving Afghanistan was never going to be easy or clean, but that doing so was still the right decision.

And the president has told Americans that he will accept responsibility for the consequences, even when blaming others.

Yet even before the Taliban took Kabul and the Afghan civilian government collapsed, American allies abroad privately complained that they had not been properly consulted before Biden announced that he would withdraw American troops by the 11th. of September. Some also wondered how security could be maintained in the country when American troops left. Especially at Kabul International Airport and at diplomatic facilities.

During the NATO meeting in Brussels in mid-June, Biden said there was a "strong consensus" among leaders on his withdrawal plans.

And a senior administration official told reporters there was "an incredible amount of warmth and unity surrounding the entire agenda, including the 'in together, out together' aspect of the Afghanistan withdrawal."

Uncertainty after US withdrawal from Afghanistan 3:20

But since then, officials have framed the decision as essentially forced by the United States.

"It was actually politically impossible for the European allies to continue in Afghanistan, given the fact that the United States has decided to end its military mission," NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on the "New Day" program. from CNN, this Wednesday.

"We went in together, and we adjusted our presence together, and now we are leaving together after close consultations among the 30 allies," he added.

Pressed on whether that meant that the US decision had tied NATO's hands, Stoltenberg was clear: "The US decision, of course, framed or created the conditions for the NATO decision."

Afghanistan Joe Biden