Swift Taliban takeover leaves US image in tattersTaliban fighters and local people sit on an Afghan National Army humvee vehicle on a street in JalalabadWASHINGTON - After two decades in Afghanistan, America's longest war was ending with the image of the United States in tatters. Haqqani, now a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, noted how US diplomats in the end could do little more than send tweets urging the Taliban to stop. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, also speaking on ABC, said the United States had "succeeded" in its primary mission of bringing justice the Al-Qaeda perpetrators of the September 11 attacks. But Fontaine, who opposed the withdrawal, said the United States was taking major risks by effectively ceding Afghanistan to the Taliban, who never formally broke with Al-Qaeda. "Perhaps some of the external pressures on the United States to act as if it is the answer to everything in the world will reduce."

Source: Bangkok Post August 15, 2021 18:11 UTC