America’s allies in Europe understood months before President Joe Biden’s fateful April speech to the American people that a full and complete US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan was a very real possibility.
Biden talked about the urgency of getting the United States out of what he termed ‘forever war’ conflicts which required tens of billions of dollars a year (not to mention thousands of US troops on the ground) to maintain. Indeed, anybody who bothered to pay attention to Biden’s words for even a moment recognised the phrase was intrinsically tied to the war in Afghanistan, which had outlasted three consecutive presidents, resulted in the deaths of over 2,440 US troops, caused tens of thousands of Afghan casualties (a conservative estimate), and trillions of dollars. Biden had no intention of leaving the White House with US forces still on the ground, fighting a war on behalf of an Afghan government that has since proved to be even weaker, demoralised, and incompetent than most experts imagined.
Without Uncle Sam, Europe would be twitching like a fish out of water
Just because Washington’s Nato allies knew the decision was coming, however, doesn’t mean they are especially pleased with the execution.
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