BRUSSELS (AP) – Long before US President Joe Biden took office earlier this year, the European Union’s foreign policy chief sang his praises and celebrated a new era of co-operation . So did almost all of Washington’s Western allies.
Josep Borrell, of the EU, was glad to see the end of the Trump era, with his America First policy and sometimes America Only, fascinated by Biden’s assertion that he “would lead not only the example of our power, but the power of our example. ”
The collapse of Kabul on Sunday, triggered by Biden’s decision to leave Afghanistan and a U.S. military unable to contain the chaos since, has certainly put an end to that. Even some of his big fans are now making criticisms.
Borrell was among them, this time frightened by Biden’s assertion that “our mission in Afghanistan had never been supposed to build nations,” following Western efforts for much of the past two decades. to sow the seeds of legal government and ensure the protection of women and minorities.
“Wasn’t state building the purpose? Well, that’s debatable, ”said a dejected Borrell about Biden’s stance, which has been criticized in much of Europe.
And for many Europeans imbued with soft-power diplomacy to export Western democratic values, Biden’s assertion that “our only vital national interest in Afghanistan remains what it has always been today: preventing a terrorist attack on the homeland American, ”could have come from a Trump speech.
EU Council President Charles Michel stressed the different positions when he said in a tweet on Thursday that “the rights of Afghans, especially women and girls, will remain our key concern: they should be used all EU instruments to support them “.
French parliamentarian Nathalie Loiseau, former European minister to President Emmanuel Macron, put the unexpected EU-Biden disconnect more forcefully: “We experienced a bit of great excitement,” she said. “We thought the United States was coming back, while in fact the United States is withdrawing.”
It was no better in Germany, where a prominent member of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s center-right Union bloc, Bavarian Governor Markus Soeder, called on Washington to provide funding and shelter for those fleeing the Afghanistan, as “the United States main responsibility for the current situation.”
Even in the UK, which has always been proud of a “special relationship” with Washington and which, more than ever, needs the goodwill of the United States to overcome the impact of leaving the EU, the beards they came from all angles.
Former British Army Chief Richard Dannatt said: “The manner and timing of the Afghan collapse is the direct result of President Biden’s decision to withdraw all US forces from Afghanistan for the 20th anniversary of on September 11. “
“Suddenly, it has undermined the patient and meticulous work of the last five, 10, 15 years to build governance in Afghanistan, develop its economy, transform its civil society and build its security forces,” Dannatt said on Wednesday. in Parliament.
“People had a look at a better life, but that has been ripped off.”
Biden noted that the Trump administration’s deal negotiated with the Taliban 18 months earlier in Doha, Qatar, which he said forced him to withdraw U.S. troops, would be the framework for the chaos now surrounding the country.
However, neither did Biden attribute much of the blame to Afghan forces for not protecting his nation has not gone well with Western allies.
Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat, who fought in Afghanistan, was one of several British lawmakers who took offense.
“It’s a shame to see their commander-in-chief question the courage of the men I fought with, to claim that they ran,” Tugendhat said.
Chris Bryant, of the opposition Labor Party, called Biden’s statements about Afghan soldiers “the most embarrassing comments of an American president”.
This week in Prague, Czech President Milos Zeman said that “by withdrawing from Afghanistan, Americans have lost their status as world leaders.”
But despite all the criticism, the United States cannot be dispensed with on the world stage. America remains vital to Western allies on a number of other issues, particularly taking action against global warming.
Following the disasters of climate change in much of the world this year, the EU will rely heavily on Biden to take effective action at the November 26th COP26 conference in Glasgow, Scotland, to accelerate action to combat global warming.
Europe and Washington also have enough trade disagreements to settle down to realize that, despite the debacle in Afghanistan, there is much more that unites that divides. The need for American power and aid remains in Afghanistan.
Ahead of Friday’s meeting of NATO foreign ministers, some Alliance nations have acknowledged that they will ask Washington to stay even longer in Afghanistan than it will take to bring all U.S. citizens to home, wanting to make sure his people come out too.
“We and many other countries are going to the Americans to tell us,‘ Stay as much as possible, possibly more than necessary, ’” Dutch Foreign Minister Sigrid Kaag said.
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Associated Press writers Mike Corder in The Hague, The Netherlands; Sylvia Hui in London; Karel Janicek in Prague and Colleen Barry in Milan collaborated.