Posted on 17 August 2021
Chaos in Afghanistan
"When we left Afghanistan and how we left Afghanistan are two different questions. Biden answered the first but not the second. And it is the second that will shape the situation over the coming weeks and months," tweets Anne Applebaum of The Atlanta magazine today.
There is no doubt the withdrawal from Afghanistan is a disaster. Analysts were divided over Biden's decisions to withdraw so suddenly. Some claimed the 'stay longer, leave better' approach had failed, and 20 years has turned into a 'forever war'. Others said withdrawal would leave vulnerable Afghans, particular women and girls at the mercy of the Taliban.
Turns out they were right.
It is clear now that even the moderate gains over 20 years, of girls being able to go to school and women to work have been tragically reversed.
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"Now there is no government, no counterterrorism, no pluralism, no women’s rights. Only a mob scene at Kabul airport, and disgrace," writes Andrew L. Peek at the Atlantic Council.