Biden (Washington Insider Magazine) -U.S. President Joe Biden held a call with U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Aug. 17 to discuss recent developments in Afghanistan.
This is the president’s first call with a foreign leader following the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul on Aug. 15. U.K. officials have been irritated by the U.S. role in the crisis, the New York Times has reported. Biden and Johnson have also agreed to convene a virtual summit next week for the Group of Seven (G7) leading industrialized nations to discuss Afghanistan.
According to a White House statement, the two leaders talked about the need for continued close coordination among allies and ways to provide humanitarian assistance for asylum seekers as well as other vulnerable Afghans. London said the prime minister stressed the importance of not losing gains made in the country, of protecting the U.K. against any threat of terrorism and of supporting the people of Afghanistan.
“The leaders welcomed U.S. and U.K. cooperation in recent days to help evacuate our nationals, current and former staff, and others from Afghanistan,” a statement from Downing Street in London announced. “They resolved to continue working closely together on this in the days and weeks ahead to allow as many people as possible to leave the country.”
The abrupt and chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan is quickly spiraling into a humanitarian crisis. The world has watched – in one incident – Afghans scrambling to leave the country fall from planes this past week, and more recently, the Taliban shoot and beat protesters on Aug. 18, resulting in the death of at least two of them.
While the crisis unfolds, some veterans and policymakers in the U.S.’s closest ally watch with rising embitterment, as criticism builds across Britain. Some are noting a unilateralism from Biden that for many is reminiscent of the “America first” policy championed by Trump, generating concern about the U.S.’s reliability in foreign policy.
“I hope ‘America First’ hasn’t become ‘America Alone,’” Tom Tugendhat, a veteran and Conservative Member of Parliament and Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, told the New York Times.
“The lesson for the U.K. is that interdependence must not become overreliance. We are better partners to others if we have options and can help shape decisions.”
The U.K. had the second largest number of foreign troops in Afghanistan throughout the war, and the third highest casualty rate, following Afghanistan and the United States. According to Britain’s Defense Secretary, Ben Wallace, the Western ally sought ways to stay in Afghanistan after U.S. withdrawal, but found no support.
Criticism is also building in the U.S., as Biden faces growing backlash in Congress.
“In implementing this flawed plan, I am disappointed that the Biden administration clearly did not accurately assess the implications of a rapid U.S. withdrawal,” Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in an Aug. 17 statement. “We are now witnessing the horrifying results of many years of policy and intelligence failures.”
Lately, Johnson’s tone was closer to that of Biden, as he called the U.S. withdrawal a “long-predicted and well-trailed step.”
He praised the bravery of Afghan, British and U.S. troops, and announced the U.K. would be committed to relocating 5,000 Afghans this year in addition to those who had worked directly with the U.K.
“I really think it is an illusion to believe that there is appetite amongst any of our partners for a continued military presence or for a military solution imposed by NATO in Afghanistan,” Johnson said.
“The idea ended with the combat mission in 2014 and I do not believe that today deploying tens of thousands of British troops to fight the Taliban is an option … We must deal with the world as it is, accepting what we have achieved and what we have not achieved.”