For the first time that I can remember I am ashamed to be American. When I lived overseas I was regularly confronted with knee-jerk anti-Americanism, most of which I ignored.
Often there was a hypocrisy to it: on the one hand, all the world’s problems were blamed on the US. On the other hand, if the US didn’t solve the world’s problems it was considered negligent. At the same time, American culture was hugely popular.
Anti-Americanism frequently came across as a deflection, rather than a thoughtful critique. I’ve lived in enough countries to know that bad governance exists everywhere and that it’s far easier to condemn someone else than face one’s own shortcomings.
But the Biden administration’s abandonment of Afghanistan, with seemingly no exit strategy, is truly shameful — and dangerous.
The US made explicit commitments to the Afghan people and now we’re jumping ship. We’re abandoning people who have risked their lives to help us, knowing that our sudden departure once again puts them directly in harm’s way.
We are backtracking on the positive changes we implemented, leaving the Afghan people no better off than when we entered 20 years ago.
We are intensifying a global refugee crisis that’s already unmanageable.
We are sowing deeper instability in an already unstable region, where nuclear and nuclear-seeking powers will exploit this vacuum to bolster their influence.
To be sure, there have been other spectacular US foreign policy failures. But this is the first one that I lived through, as a cognizant adult, from start to finish.
Hindsight is 20/20 and going into Afghanistan probably wasn’t the best strategy. But the country was reeling from 9/11 and demanded a response. I remember on that infamous day thinking: “This is a declaration of war.” But what nation state should be held accountable was never quite clear. Foreign policy concerns kept the US from targeting the country most responsible — Saudi Arabia.
So here we are, 20 years later, forsaking the Afghan people, reneging on our promises and dishonoring the sacrifices made by our military personnel, leaving us lamenting that they were seemingly made in vain.
Shameful indeed.
Shana Goldberg may be reached at shana@ijn.com
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