The last US military aircraft left Afghanistan on August 30. How is this withdrawal perceived by American opinion, when images of chaos have been around the world? Martin Quen ...

Withdrawal from Afghanistan: "We will have to see in several months whether we can speak of a debacle"

The last American soldier evacuates Afghanistan, August 30, 2021. via REUTERS - US ARMY

Text by: RFI Follow

7 mins

The last US military aircraft left Afghanistan on August 30.

How is this withdrawal perceived by American opinion, when images of chaos have been around the world?

Martin Quencez, researcher and deputy director of the German Marshall Fund think-tank answered, during a special edition on Tuesday, RFI's questions.

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RFI: How is the withdrawal from Afghanistan perceived by the American population?

Joe Biden is under fire from critics?

Martin Quencez

For American opinion, the

withdrawal from Afghanistan

in itself is a success.

It's a bit of a paradox.

It was a promise from Joe Biden's presidential campaign.

It was also a promise of the presidential campaign of his opponent, Donald Trump.

In this, there is going to be a sort of battle between two narratives.

On the one hand, the Democrats will put the withdrawal of Joe Biden to the balance sheet, presenting him as the one who ended what they call "

endless wars

They will promote this decision, the courage it took to set up this evacuation.

On the other hand, the way it happened and

the terrible images

that we have seen in recent weeks, and obviously the Taliban's takeover so quickly, are going to be used against him.

The Republican Party and Joe Biden's opponents will continue to use it to show [his] administration's poor preparation and incompetence.

We will have two ways of reading these events.

► To read also: United States: Joe Biden facing the Afghan failure

Personally, I would remain rather cautious about the idea that American opinion is going to be very angry with Joe Biden.

I believe that she was focused on this idea, on this slogan "

End endless wars

" and that in several months, perhaps a year, this is what will remain above all of the withdrawal of American troops from the United States. 'Afghanistan.

The Americans could not get as many people out of Afghanistan as they wanted, admitted the head of the central command.

Have Americans abandoned those who helped them?

In fact, we have moved on to another phase. The US Department of Defense made it clear: Now everything is in the hands of the State Department. And it will be the priority of the Biden administration to continue this effort with the Taliban government, to continue to negotiate so that as many Americans and as many auxiliaries as possible can

leave the country if they wish

This is also what will be the outcome of the evacuation.

We must not judge him today.

We will have to see in several months whether we can speak of a debacle, if in a certain way the administration has succeeded in saving a certain number of its auxiliaries.

This is what will be the stake of American domestic policy: to continue to shed light on what is happening in Afghanistan.

The risk being that the American news is so rich that it can forget Afghanistan.

Is it possible that the Americans are forgetting Afghanistan after what we have just experienced these last 15 days?

Absoutely.

We must take a little distance from the absolutely terrible images that we have seen.

American news has surprised us a lot in recent years by its ability to have amnesia.

And so, if this seems to us today to be a total failure for the Biden administration, we will see in a year during the midterm elections what will be the real subject that will weigh on [this election].

A few hours ago, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken indicated that the United States would work with the Taliban if it kept its commitments.

What is the degree of discussion today between the two parties?

The discussion is important. First, during the period of the evacuations, we saw strange scenes where the Taliban were required to guarantee the security of American operations. There was

this strike by an

American

drone

a few days ago which left ten potentially civilian victims. And it is now necessary to see to what extent the target had been coordinated or not with potentially Taliban sources in Afghanistan.

And then, as I told you, the chapter continues.

Evacuations are an extremely important issue for the administration.

And for the Secretary of State, we will have to find ways to bring back Americans and auxiliaries, despite the demands of the Taliban.

This will continue and I think that we will have more and more this bitter realism, as they say, on the side of the American administration.

That is to say that we are going to achieve de facto recognition of the Taliban as the new leaders of the country?

In fact, not necessarily in words.

There is a need to work with the new people ruling Afghanistan anyway.

There are also the challenges of

competition between the United States and China

, the challenges of maintaining a certain presence, at least for the fight against terrorism, and therefore links with the Taliban.

All this will help in the coming months to build links between the administration and the Taliban.

Withdrawal from Afghanistan: "We will have to see in several months whether we can speak of a debacle"

Withdrawal from Afghanistan: "We will have to see in several months whether we can speak of a debacle"

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