The Wall Street Journal described the hasty and reckless withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan as a failure of US credibility, saying it had changed world power relations and created new problems for Russia and China.
According to the international group Pak Sahafat, the American newspaper wrote: The shocking collapse of the US-backed government in Afghanistan showed the limits of Washington’s tough power.
Scenes of despair and despair in Kabul have turned to anger and frustration, as well as the frustration of many US allies, especially in Europe, and have seriously damaged Washington’s credibility.
China and Russia, despite humiliating the United States, know that Washington is not the only loser. In terms of military power and economic resources, the United States remains the dominant power. Withdrawing from its pivotal role in Afghanistan does not mean that Washington will deviate from the strategic rivalry with China and Russia; two countries trying to paint a new international order that has benefited the United States and its allies over the past few decades.
Unlike Russia and China, which are Afghanistan’s close neighbors, the United States is far from the direct consequences of Taliban rule in Afghanistan, from the influx of refugees to terrorism and the drug trade. Afghanistan’s governance is now increasingly a problem for Moscow, Beijing and Afghanistan’s regional neighbors.
After the fall of the Afghan government on August 15, Beijing could not contain its joy at the humiliation of its main rival in the world, even if the main reason for the collapse was Washington’s decision to focus its resources.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying stressed at a news conference the death of a 17-year-old Afghan footballer who crashed as a US C-17 plane took off from Kabul airport, saying “people are waking up.”
In Russia, too, the state media rejoiced over the tragedy, but feared that the scourge of Afghans could spread to its fragile Central Asian allies. “They infect you and then release you,” Margarita Simon, editor of Rasha Today TV, tweeted, accusing the United States.
The Wall Street Journal writes: “Now that the 20-year war in Afghanistan is over, concerns have shifted to the clever view of how war and the withdrawal of troops from the war can affect the balance of power in the world.”
The paper concluded that the fall of the US-backed Afghan government showed how limited the US use of military and economic means to influence other behaviors or interests was, to the frustration and despair of even US allies.
Hard power is opposed to soft power, which stems from diplomacy.