The Impact Of USA in Afghanistan Essay Sample

In the article “America May Pay Dearly for Defeat in Afghanistan,” the Economist highlights the prevailing crisis in Afghanistan. More specifically, the author evaluates President Biden’s response, analyzes bipartisan objections, investigates global animosities, and considers long-standing ramifications. While proclaiming Joe Biden’s foreign-policy experiences superior to that of his predecessors, Robert Gates, the former Secretary of Defense under President Obama, expresses skepticism. Namely, in his memoir “Duty,” Gates asserts how “Biden has been wrong on nearly every major foreign-policy and national-security issue over the past four decades.” 

As this dilemma capriciously develops, a mere combination of historical precedent, justifiable research, and scholarly consultation can decipher this unpredictability. This phenomenon, coupled with my limited expertise in foreign affairs, severely restricts my opinions on the issue. With that in mind, human nature reveals a universal adherence to calculated self-interest. This conspicuous self-interest manifests in the individual and the collective, leading me to reject Biden’s so-called “virtuous” foreign agenda vehemently; that is, a “conviction in democracy and compassion for the oppressed have a place beside self-interest at the centre of his foreign policy.” 

As this forceful self-interest arguably underpins human decision-making, I believe that an intrinsic series of motives, whether overt or covert, governs our resulting actions. In Biden’s situation, he achieved self-interest by seemingly yearning for reverence, for the acclamation of being “the hero who ended the United States’ longest war,” not by resting on a desire to support the Afghani people. In other words, Biden did indeed act in self-interest but not by meticulously weighing the strategic advantages and disadvantages of the circumstances. His impulsive blame on Donald Trump unambiguously reinforces this assertion. 

However, in Biden’s defense, he inherited a bipartisan perplexity characterized by 20 years of turmoil and disarray. Despite my rudimentary comprehension of the issue, Biden’s contention on how “American troops cannot, and should not, be fighting in a war, and dying in a war, that Afghan forces are not willing to fight for themselves,” strangely appears to my Libertarian philosophy. Notably, American soldiers appeared to have inadvertently strengthened the Taliban by continuing to partake in a seemingly “unwinnable” war with Afghan incompetence. In consequence, our strategic competitors ridicule our failures (an abomination to America’s strength.) 

On the other hand, as Mr. Biden claimed his team had planned for “every contingency,” the precipitous disintegration of the Afghan government represents a significant failure in the Biden Administration. Notably, this instantaneous collapse evidenced the absence of strategic calculations. For example, a thorough contemplation of the situation’s advantages and disadvantages would have likely compelled the Administration to retain around 2,500 American soldiers. By failing to do so, this Taliban resurgence parallels that of ISIS in Iraq. While increased security measures dominate the post 9/11 world, the rapid ascension of the Taliban casts doubt on our surveillance system’s impeccability. 

Overall, by reading this article, Biden has exuded an inconsistent and conflicting foreign policy agenda for the past four decades. Will his so-called fortitude surmount this incongruence? Only time will tell…