Byker
2021-08-22 20:15:25 UTC
Someone should at least tell our allies as the Wall St. Journal editorial
board notes the chaotic Afghan withdrawal has shocked and angered U.S.
allies and yesterday the UK parliament held Biden in contempt (!) for his
disastrous withdrawal. So much for rebuilding NATO. Another three years of
China Joe and we'll be lucky to have a single ally left...
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WSJ Opinion: The Taliban's Victory After Biden's Retreat
By The Editorial Board
Aug. 19, 2021 6:56 pm ET
Remember when candidate Joe Biden said America “needs a leader the world
respects”? Apparently President Biden forgot. Of the many consequences of
his misbegotten Afghanistan withdrawal, one of the more serious is the way
it has damaged America’s relationships with its allies, especially in
Europe.
Afghanistan was an operation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and
America’s NATO allies have invested significant blood and treasure in the
conflict. That includes tens of thousands of troops over 20 years, more than
1,100 of whom were killed, and billions of dollars spent on the military
operation and reconstruction effort.
This was a fulfillment of their obligations after the Sept. 11 terror attack
led to the first invocation of the mutual self-defense clause in NATO’s
founding treaty. European allies also have a stake in preventing a nation of
nearly 40 million people from collapsing into a failed state that could
trigger more mass migration to Europe, or become a new breeding ground for
terrorism.
Yet everything about Mr. Biden’s Afghan withdrawal has been a slap to those
allies. They didn’t want the U.S. to leave, but he did. The botched
execution has left them scrambling to airlift out thousands of their
citizens and thousands more Afghan translators and others who assisted each
nation’s war effort.
And the snubs keep coming from Washington. In his Monday speech, Mr. Biden
made only a glancing reference to NATO and none to America’s European allies
in his account of the conflict. U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson reportedly
had to wait a day and a half after requesting a call with the President to
get Mr. Biden on the phone.
<snip>
https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-joe-biden-broke-nato-allies-boris-johnson-angela-merkel-emmanuel-macron-11629406300
board notes the chaotic Afghan withdrawal has shocked and angered U.S.
allies and yesterday the UK parliament held Biden in contempt (!) for his
disastrous withdrawal. So much for rebuilding NATO. Another three years of
China Joe and we'll be lucky to have a single ally left...
---------------------------------------------------------------------
WSJ Opinion: The Taliban's Victory After Biden's Retreat
By The Editorial Board
Aug. 19, 2021 6:56 pm ET
Remember when candidate Joe Biden said America “needs a leader the world
respects”? Apparently President Biden forgot. Of the many consequences of
his misbegotten Afghanistan withdrawal, one of the more serious is the way
it has damaged America’s relationships with its allies, especially in
Europe.
Afghanistan was an operation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and
America’s NATO allies have invested significant blood and treasure in the
conflict. That includes tens of thousands of troops over 20 years, more than
1,100 of whom were killed, and billions of dollars spent on the military
operation and reconstruction effort.
This was a fulfillment of their obligations after the Sept. 11 terror attack
led to the first invocation of the mutual self-defense clause in NATO’s
founding treaty. European allies also have a stake in preventing a nation of
nearly 40 million people from collapsing into a failed state that could
trigger more mass migration to Europe, or become a new breeding ground for
terrorism.
Yet everything about Mr. Biden’s Afghan withdrawal has been a slap to those
allies. They didn’t want the U.S. to leave, but he did. The botched
execution has left them scrambling to airlift out thousands of their
citizens and thousands more Afghan translators and others who assisted each
nation’s war effort.
And the snubs keep coming from Washington. In his Monday speech, Mr. Biden
made only a glancing reference to NATO and none to America’s European allies
in his account of the conflict. U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson reportedly
had to wait a day and a half after requesting a call with the President to
get Mr. Biden on the phone.
<snip>
https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-joe-biden-broke-nato-allies-boris-johnson-angela-merkel-emmanuel-macron-11629406300