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‘Like a deer in the headlights’: the price of Biden’s Afghan strategy

‘Like a deer in the headlights’: the price of Biden’s Afghan strategy

The chaotic scenes in Kabul are unlikely to derail US President Joe Biden’s domestic agenda, but they have worried allies and emboldened foes.

President Joe Biden meets virtually with his national security team and senior officials for a briefing on Afghanistan. AP

Edward LuceColumnist

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Not since Major General William Elphinstone’s retreating British army was picked off in 1842 has a foreign occupier left Afghanistan under such a cloud.

It took three years after the Soviet withdrawal in 1989 for its Kabul ally to submit to mujahideen forces. It was two years after the US military’s exit from Vietnam before Saigon fell to the communists in 1975.

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Financial Times

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Edward Luce
Edward LuceColumnistEdward Luce is the Washington columnist and commentator for the Financial Times. He writes about American politics and the economy.

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Original URL: https://www.afr.com/world/middle-east/like-a-deer-in-the-headlights-the-price-of-biden-s-afghan-strategy-20210822-p58kvl