Afghanistan as Foreign Policy Disaster

British leaders continue to blast Joe Biden for his incompetent conduct of the withdrawal from Afghanistan. The London Times reports:

Ministers have warned that Britain will have to tear up its foreign policy after the debacle in Afghanistan, amid flaring tempers about America’s decision to cut and run.

Tony Blair branded Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw “imbecilic”, while cabinet insiders suggested the president was “gaga” and “doolally” for withdrawing so fast.

Imbecilic is a strong word, but what is significant here is the perceived effect on future relations with the U.K.:

[Foreign Secretary Dominic] Raab intervened amid evidence of bad feeling between Britain and the US. A minister denounced American “isolationism” and said that the government would have to “revisit” the recent review on defence and foreign policy because the US was no longer a reliable ally.

“America has just signalled to the world that they are not that keen on playing a global role,” the minister said. “The implications of that are absolutely huge. We need to get the integrated review out and reread it. We are going to have to do a hard-nosed revisit on all our assumptions and policies.

Frustration with the Biden administration is obviously building:

There were further incendiary claims that Boris Johnson has privately referred to Biden as “Sleepy Joe”, the nickname coined by Donald Trump. A source also said the prime minister “half-jokingly” remarked: “We would be better off with Trump.” Downing Street called the claims “categorically untrue” but Johnson’s warm noises about the ex-president are corroborated by witnesses.
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Military sources have also told MPs that as tensions rose last week, there were clashes with the US on the ground and “heated words” between British and US commanders at Kabul airport, including one “stand-up” row.

In Whitehall there was fury last week when the Americans closed their gate to the airport and sent prospective refugees to the area manned by 2 Para.

The prime minister is “extremely frustrated” by developments in Afghanistan, senior officials admitted.

Unfortunately, it appears likely that Biden’s botched skedaddle from Afghanistan will haunt U.S. foreign policy for years to come.

STEVE adds: Since liberals like recycling, let’s bring up something Henry Kissinger said of Jimmy Carter in 1980 that applies fully to President Biden just now:

“The Carter administration has managed the extraordinary feat of having, at one and the same time, the worst relations with our allies, the worst relations with our adversaries, and the most serious upheavals in the developing world since the end of the Second World War.”

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