President Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw forces from Afghanistan over the objections of other NATO allies has enraged officials in the United Kingdom, stoking distrust and contempt for American foreign policy leadership.
“Now this is a harsh lesson for all of us,” senior British lawmaker Tom Tugendhat, who is chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the House of Commons, told Parliament. “We can set out a vision, clearly articulate it, for reinvigorating our European NATO partners to make sure that we are not dependent on a single ally, on the decision of a single leader, but that we can work together with Japan and Australia, with France and Germany, with partners large and small, and make sure that we hold the line together.”
Those sentiments could reinforce France’s desire for “strategic autonomy” from the United States. French and British foreign policy cooperation has been impeded by acrimonious disputes over the U.K.’s exit from the European Union, but those controversies seem to pale at the moment in comparison to Tugendhat’s self-described “anger, grief, and rage” over Biden’s decision and his barely restrained contempt for the American president’s justification for the chaotic exit.
“To see [the U.S. military’s] commander in chief call into question the courage of men I fought with, to claim that they ran — it’s shameful,” said Tugendhat, a former British army intelligence officer who deployed to Afghanistan alongside U.S. forces. “Those who have never fought for the colors they fly should be careful about criticizing those who have.”
BEHIND-THE-SCENES DISPUTES POINT TO TRUST GAP BETWEEN BIDEN AND ‘TROUBLEMAKER’ FRANCE
Biden excoriated the Afghan military earlier this week in an attempt to rebut criticisms of his attempt to withdraw, following a hectic weekend in which U.S. and European diplomats raced to the Kabul airport to meet incoming U.S. troops while the Taliban entered the capital city.
“The Afghan military collapsed, sometimes without trying to fight,” Biden said. “If anything, the developments of the past week reinforced that ending U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan now was the right decision.”
U.S. forces withdrew so rapidly after Biden’s late April decision to exit the country that the Afghan air force was left with a scant supply of the precision-guided bombs that previously had been regarded as a key weapon against the Taliban, while the NATO coalition’s withdrawal entailed the removal of most of the Western air support.
Alliance anger over Biden’s withdrawal erupted into public view in recent days, as European officials underscored that Biden pulled U.S. forces out of the country over the objections of most other NATO allies, who lack the ability to deploy to Afghanistan in the absence of the U.S.
“I think that what has happened shows that Europe needs to develop this famous ‘strategic autonomy’ in order to be ready to face challenges that affect us eventually,” European Union High Rep. Josep Borrell, a former Spanish politician who now leads the bloc’s diplomatic corps, told reporters Tuesday.
French President Emmanuel Macron has pined for such independence from U.S. decision-making, particularly during former President Donald Trump’s tenure. That impulse met with opposition on the eastern flank of NATO, where political leaders regard the U.S. as the lynchpin of security from Russian assault.
“During the course of 20 years, we have adjusted our presence together, and earlier this year, all 30 allies agreed to the decision to end the mission,” a Lithuanian Foreign Affairs Ministry spokeswoman told the Washington Examiner. “As we face new geopolitical reality in Afghanistan, it is very important to maintain strong transatlantic unity and solidarity.”
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NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has scheduled an emergency meeting of the transatlantic alliance’s top diplomats for this Friday. “It’ll take some days and weeks to settle the emotions,” a central European official told the Washington Examiner.
