Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Monday, Sep 15, 2025

Comment: As the Taliban take Kabul, America’s failure is complete

Comment: As the Taliban take Kabul, America’s failure is complete

If the most visceral image from the fall of Saigon was a helicopter taking off, then in Kabul it was the scenes of utter chaos at the airport - the small patch of territory the US still controls.
The speed of the Taliban advance clearly came as a surprise to the Americans. One wonders why, given the amount of intelligence to which they have access.

Its failure in nation-building is now complete. The Afghan state, continuously crippled by corruption, whose armed forces unable to rely on US airpower and other military assistance simply evaporated. As many Afghans suggest, it is not that the Taliban is especially strong but that the government was weak.

Assembling and then supporting the Afghan army was a centrepiece of the US’s exit strategy. It now lies in tatters, as the country’s military simply disintegrated in the face of Taliban advancements. Indeed, many of the weapons the US spent billions supplying the Afghan army are now in the hands of a terrifyingly brutal force.

“Inexcusable” and “heart-breaking” are some of the words being deployed on all sides. Minister Ben Wallace, a former soldier, struggled in tears this morning, admitting our ability to stop new terror forces gathering strength there will be sub-optimal. “The West has done what it’s done,” was as much as he could muster.

Former US national security adviser, John Bolton, went as far as to say the west looks like “suckers”. As our defence editor writes, “What next for Afghanistan? Don’t expect help from Biden.”

During the 20-year engagement, the US lost 2,448 military personnel and many more lives of US contractors. Yet despite the cost in blood and treasure, and the humiliating end, President Biden may not suffer an immediate political cost. Much of the US public has long lost interest in Afghanistan.

But assaults on US forces abroad, or even an attack on the homeland, would leave him vulnerable to the charge of incompetence. And then there are veterans of the Afghan war both here and in the US and Afghanistan — what must they now be thinking?

Trump signed a deal with the Taliban in February 2020, but it is Biden that must take responsibility for many of the last few days’ events, to which he appears to be a naive by-stander.

The UK Government appears equally flat-footed. The Foreign Secretary was on holiday. Even the Prime Minister recalling Parliament feels like an admission that doing anything is better than doing nothing.

We simply cannot abandon the Afghans who assisted Western and government forces — men and women who will now be fearing for their lives. Providing them with safe refuge in Britain is not only our moral duty — without it, we cannot expect others to help us in future conflicts.

Many of us looked in in horror as the Taliban took Kabul and hoisted its flag above the presidential palace. Yet we did so from the safety of Britain. For ordinary Afghans, the reality is far graver.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Kuwait opens bidding for construction of three cities to ease housing crunch.
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
Turkish authorities seize leading broadcaster amid fraud and tax investigation
Qatari prime minister says Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Big Oil Slashes Jobs and Investments Amid Prolonged Low Crude Prices
Social Media Access Curtailed in Turkey After CHP Calls for Rallies Following Police Blockade of Istanbul Headquarters
Did the Houthis disrupt the internet in the Middle East? Submarine cables cut in the Red Sea
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Trump Administration Advances Plans to Rebrand Pentagon as Department of War Instead of the Fake Term Department of Defense
Tether Expands into Gold Sector with Profit-Driven Diversification
Trump’s New War – and the ‘Drug Tyrant’ Fearing Invasion: ‘1,200 Missiles Aimed at Us’
At the Parade in China: Laser Weapons, 'Eagle Strike,' and a Missile Capable of 'Striking Anywhere in the World'
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Iran Faces Escalating Water Crisis as Protests Spread
More Than Half a Million Evacuated as Typhoon Kajiki Heads for Vietnam
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Cristiano Ronaldo Makes Surprise Stop at New Hong Kong Museum
Zelenskyy to Visit Washington after Trump–Putin Summit Yields No Agreement
High-Stakes Trump-Putin Summit on Ukraine Underway in Alaska
Iranian Protection Offers Chinese Vehicle Shipments a Cost Advantage over Japanese and Korean Makers
Saudi Arabia accelerates renewables to curb domestic oil use
Cristiano Ronaldo and Georgina Rodríguez announce engagement
Asia-Pacific dominates world’s busiest flight routes, with South Korea’s Jeju–Seoul corridor leading global rankings
Private Welsh island with 19th-century fort listed for sale at over £3 million
Sam Altman challenges Elon Musk with plans for Neuralink rival
Australia to Recognize the State of Palestine at UN Assembly
The Collapse of the Programmer Dream: AI Experts Now the Real High-Earners
Armenia and Azerbaijan to Sign US-Brokered Framework Agreement for Nakhchivan Corridor
British Labour Government Utilizes Counter-Terrorism Tools for Social Media Monitoring Against Legitimate Critics
WhatsApp Deletes 6.8 Million Scam Accounts Amid Rising Global Fraud
Nine people have been hospitalized and dozens of salmonella cases have been reported after an outbreak of infections linked to certain brands of pistachios and pistachio-containing products, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada
Texas Residents Face Water Restrictions While AI Data Centers Consume Millions of Gallons
Tariffs, AI, and the Shifting U.S. Macro Landscape: Navigating a New Economic Regime
India Rejects U.S. Tariff Threat, Defends Russian Oil Purchases
United States Establishes Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Digital Asset Stockpile
Thousands of Private ChatGPT Conversations Accidentally Indexed by Google
×