• Leaders frustrated with U.S. withdrawal strategy
In briefings with members of the U.S. House and Senate on Sunday, President Joe Biden’s Biden’s top diplomatic and military officials faced criticism and questions about the effects of Mr. Biden’s decision to continue withdrawing troops from Afghanistan, a process set in motion by former President Donald Trump.
Lawmakers faulted U.S. policy on Afghanistan, lamenting 20 years of U.S. involvement and bloodshed is ending with the Taliban’s reemergence. Some said the U.S. shouldn’t have pulled out — despite a lack of public support for the war.
“As we get to the 20th anniversary of 9/11, we are surrendering Afghanistan to the terrorist organization that housed al-Qaida when they plotted and planned the attacks against us,” said Rep.Liz Cheney, a Wyoming Republican and member of the Armed Services Committee, on ABC’s “This Week.”
Ms. Cheney, daughter of former vice president Dick Cheney, whose administration began the U.S. involvement in Afghanistan, said both Mr. Biden and Mr. Trump bear responsibility.
The Taliban’s stunningly swift advances across Afghanistan have also sparked global alarm, reviving doubts about the credibility of U.S. foreign policy promises and drawing harsh criticisms even from some of the United States’ closest allies.
“Whatever happened to ‘America is back’?” said Tobias Ellwood, who chairs the Defense Committee in the British Parliament, citing Mr. Biden’s foreign policy promise to rebuild alliances and restore U.S. prestige damaged during the Trump administration.
Rivals of the United States also have expressed dismay. Among them is China, which fears the situation will foster unrest in the adjoining province of Xinjiang, where Beijing has waged crackdowns on the Uyghur population that have been denounced by the West.
Washington “bears an unavoidable responsibility for the current situation in Afghanistan,” Col. Wu Qian, a spokesman for China’s Ministry of National Defense, said earlier this month.
The manner and implementation of the withdrawal has left allies feeling betrayed, said Cathryn Clüver Ashbrook, director of the German Council on Foreign Relations. Germany’s government, which withdrew its troops in June and is evacuating its embassy, has refrained from overt criticism of the U.S. withdrawal.
“We’re back to the transatlantic relationship of old, where the Americans dictate everything. ... ‘Yes, we want to partner with you, but in reality, we want to be able to tell you what to do and when,’ ” added Cathryn Clüver Ashbrook, director of the German Council on Foreign Relations.