As an American, it’s stunning to read the harsh criticism of supposed U.S. allies Germany and the United Kingdom to the withdrawal after 20 years of the U.S. military from its $2 trillion futile mission in Afghanistan.
“I say this with a heavy heart and with horror over what is happening, but the early withdrawal was a serious and far-reaching miscalculation by the current administration,” said Norbert Röttgen, chairman of the German parliament’s foreign relations committee, according to Politico. “This does fundamental damage to the political and moral credibility of the West.”
Angela Merkel, the Kremlin-appeasing German chancellor thankfully heading into retirement, hopefully to be replaced by the Green Party leader, tut-tutted: “For those who believed in democracy and freedom, especially for women, these are bitter events.”
Really? Then why don’t you send more German army soldiers in to pick up where the Americans left off, Merkel? Yes, the German army had a presence, but a small one, and it withdrew completely the last of its then symbolic contingent of 570 soldiers in June 2021. The U.S., by contrast, had a high of 130,000 soldiers there, including 2,400 who lost their lives.
While U.S. President Joseph Biden is withdrawing misplaced troops from abroad, he should yank the 35,000 U.S. troops defending an ungrateful Germany, whose government and industry are stacked with Vladimir Putin-loving people. Germany, which damaged its own credibility with the $11 billion Russian Nord Stream 2 pipeline, is too cheap to spend even 2% of its vast $4 trillion annually in economic output on defense as a NATO ally, forcing, of course, Americans to shoulder most of the burden of collective defense.
And then there’s America’s supposed closest ally, the United Kingdom.
“Afghanistan is the biggest foreign policy disaster since Suez. We need to think again about how we handle friends, who matters and how we defend our interests,” tweeted Tom Tugendhat, the Conservative chair of the U.K. parliament’s foreign affairs committee.
Then keep your British troops there, nothing stopping you, Tugendhat! But Britain, which had less than 10,000 troops in Afghanistan, admitted that it can’t stay unless the Americans do also. Reality is harsh, so the loud British critics should stay quiet.
As Pulitzer Prize-winning author Anne Applebaum tweeted: “European leaders are right to see the collapse of Afghanistan as another blow to the credibility of the West. However, not a single one of them would lift (or did lift) a finger to prevent it.”
The U.S. exit was horribly messy, creating a humanitarian disaster. Biden said his administration was stunned at the swiftness of the Taliban takeover. Either he was lying or he got really bad information from the military, which has lost its credibility in the debacle. Either way, the Afghan government – whose president reportedly fled in a helicopter with so much cash he had to leave some of it on the tarmac – was going to lose. The Taliban held its fire against American troops as long as they withdrew. If the U.S. forces had stayed, they would have been sitting ducks for the advancing Taliban forces.
I hope the U.S. extricates itself from other mistaken military commitments abroad. My country spends nearly $800 billion annually on its military budget, about 38% of all global military spending. It’s ridiculous and weakening the nation.
I also hope the U.S. stops some ridiculous aid programs – and spends more on others, which brings me to Ukraine.
As an American who has been living on and off in Ukraine for 25 years, I think the lessons of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan are clearly understood by everyone.
Coming on the heels of Biden’s decision to waive sanctions stopping the Russian-Germany Nord Stream 2 pipeline, Alyona Getmanchuk writes that Ukraine has reasons for worry.
“Biden now finds himself confronted by often modest progress on many of the key Ukrainian reforms he had previously championed, along with outright backsliding on a number of major anti-corruption initiatives,” Getmanchuk, director of the New Europe Center, wrote. “As many in Kyiv have been quick to point out, Ukraine’s relationship with America is far removed from the high levels of dependency that marked the US involvement in Afghanistan. Indeed, few would question the Ukrainian military’s ability to stand alone, if necessary. Even so, the nature of the American withdrawal from Afghanistan has set off alarm bells throughout Ukraine and served as a wake-up call for anyone who still believes that continued Western support can be relied upon indefinitely.”
Kyiv should be doing its best to prove that it is not going to repeat the late Afghan government’s mistakes, Glen Grant, a retired British Army officer, told the Kyiv Post.
“The coming months will be vital for Ukraine to show that it is both a good ally and that it is not going to cave in if Russia attacks,” Grant said. “The current Ukrainian leadership policies of passive resistance may well be undermining the case for enhanced support. Of course, Ukraine must rely upon itself. No one helps a loser.”
As European Union Ambassador to Ukraine Matti Maasikas tweeted: “In the best case the situation could help further focus some minds in Kyiv.”
Ukraine has gotten $4.6 billion in U.S. military assistance since Russia launched its military invasion in 2014 – about 5 percent of the security assistance that went to Afghanistan.
I think Ukrainians are deserving of assistance, having shown through two revolutions and the current war that they are willing to fight and die for their nation, with or without outside help.
Ukraine naturally wants more assistance. But given the unreformed nature of much of the military and security apparatus, I think the U.S. should only give more when Ukraine mounts a better effort to stamp out corruption in military and civilian sectors. Not only does the military remain largely unreformed, so do the security and law enforcement apparatuses. The oligarchs still rule with impunity. When Biden asks what “big fish” have been prosecuted, let alone convicted, of a major crime, the answer remains no one. I’ll believe there will be change when Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova charges billionaire oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky with bank fraud for the $5.5 billion losses to his former PrivatBank.
Yes, Ukraine has made progress in many areas. Civil society, democratic elections and free media here are wonders to behold, and worthy of greater Western assistance.
But with such a spotty track record, Ukraine is right to worry about the eventual end of Western aid. Nothing lasts forever. So Kyiv should make better use of the money while it lasts.
