The rate of the Taliban’s advance this month stunned everyone. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has fled, and the country was entirely in the Taliban’s hands even before the U.S. troop drawdown was complete. In the face of mounting criticism, President Joe Biden resolutely defended the withdrawal. This posturing cannot be explained without taking into account the liberal ideas that dominate the White House’s decision-making.

The Biden administration advances its domestic liberal values buttressed by a foreign policy complement. As with its conviction that systemic racism pervades American society and domestic politics, the administration’s foreign policy toward certain hostile countries is based on the idea that U.S. behavior has been interventionist, has been immoral, and has caused more problems than it solves. To right this wrong, the Biden administration believes that it must extricate itself from conflicts and undo decades of policy regardless of how perverse the consequences are to U.S. interests and allies.