London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Tuesday, Jul 22, 2025

Britain asks: Is America back or has it turned its back?

Britain asks: Is America back or has it turned its back?

The humiliation of the lightning Taliban takeover in Afghanistan after a 20-year war that cost hundreds of thousands of lives has raised a question for the United States' staunchest European ally: Is America really back as President Joe Biden promised?

Britain fears the Taliban's return and the vacuum left by the West's chaotic withdrawal will allow militants from al Qaeda and Islamic State to gain a foothold in Afghanistan, just 20 years after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace cast the 2020 Doha withdrawal accord struck by U.S. President Donald Trump's administration as a "rotten deal". Wallace said Biden's decision to leave Afghanistan was a mistake that had enabled the Taliban to re-emerge in power.

Such questioning and such emotion - Wallace was on the brink of tears in one interview - is rare for Washington's closest European ally, which has stood by the United States in almost every major conflict since World War Two apart from Vietnam.

After the tumult of Trump's presidency, Biden has repeatedly promised that "America is back". Some British diplomats are questioning not only that assessment but also the implications for long-term national security.

"Is America back or has it turned its back?" one British official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "It looks very much as if the Americans have gone home in a rather Trumpian manner - rushed, chaotic and humiliating."

Western security sources fear al Qaeda, whose founder Osama bin Laden was harboured by the Taliban before 9/11, could regain a foothold in Afghanistan within months. Such a scenario, they say, would threaten both the United Kingdom and the wider West.

British diplomats compared the scale of the West's humiliation to the 1975 fall of Saigon that ended the Vietnam War, or to the 1956 Suez Crisis, a strategic blunder which confirmed the loss of Britain's imperial power.

Photographs of a helicopter evacuating diplomats from the U.S. embassy in Kabul were compared to those from 1975 showing a helicopter plucking diplomats from the roof of the U.S. embassy in Saigon.

BETRAYAL?


Biden has repeatedly argued that a continued U.S. military presence in Afghanistan would not have significantly changed the situation unless the Afghan military could hold its own country.

But British diplomats said the Afghan debacle will undermine the West's standing in the world, rallyjihadists everywhere and strengthen the arguments of Russia and China that the United States and its allies lack both mettle and staying power.

"We must be clear about this: this is a humiliating moment for the West," said Mark Sedwill, who was Britain's most senior civil servant and national security adviser under former Prime Minister Theresa May.

Some British veterans questioned their own sacrifice. Some spoke of a feeling of betrayal. Some said their fallen comrades had died in vain.

"Was it worth it, probably not. Did I lose my legs for nothing, looks like it. Did my mates die in vain. Yep," said Jack Cummings, a former British soldier who lost both legs on Aug. 14, 2010 while searching for improvised explosive devices (IED) in Afghanistan.

"Many emotions going through my head - anger, betrayal sadness to name a few," said Cummings.

Britain was one of a handful of nations prepared to do some of the toughest fighting alongside U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan, for example in the southern province of Helmand, considered to be the country's most dangerous.

Britain has lost 457 armed forces personnel in Afghanistan, or 13 percent of the international military coalition's 3,500 fatalities since 2001.

Brown University's Cost of War Project estimates 241,000 people have died as a direct result of the war. Brown estimates the Afghan war has cost the United States $2.26 trillion.

SAIGON OR SUEZ?


British diplomats cast both the Doha agreement of February 2020, struck during Trump's presidency, and Biden's April announcement of a withdrawal as capitulations which destroyed morale in Afghanistan.

Trump said his withdrawal plan had been ruined by Biden.

"The Taliban no longer has fear or respect for America, or America’s power," he said in a statement.

The British empire suffered humiliation in Afghanistan during the 1839-1842 Anglo-Afghan war, but after the Sept. 11 al Qaeda attacks, then-Prime Minister Tony Blair joined U.S. President George W. Bush in invading Afghanistan to overthrow the Taliban.

Fast forward 20 years: the Taliban are back in power.

"The fall of Kabul is the biggest foreign policy disaster since Suez," said Tom Tugendhat, chairman of the British parliament's foreign affairs committee.

"It revealed the nature of U.S. power and our inability to hold a separate line," said Tugendhat, who served as a British soldier in both Iraq and Afghanistan. "As Kabul shows, we need our allies to stand with us."

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
US Treasury Secretary Calls for Institutional Review of Federal Reserve Amid AI‑Driven Growth Expectations
UK Government Considers Dropping Demand for Apple Encryption Backdoor
Severe Flooding in South Korea Claims Lives Amid Ongoing Rescue Operations
Japanese Man Discovers Family Connection Through DNA Testing After Decades of Separation
Russia Signals Openness to Ukraine Peace Talks Amid Escalating Drone Warfare
Switzerland Implements Ban on Mammography Screening
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
Pogacar Extends Dominance with Stage Fifteen Triumph at Tour de France
CEO Resigns Amid Controversy Over Relationship with HR Executive
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
US Revokes Visas of Brazilian Corrupted Judges Amid Fake Bolsonaro Investigation
U.S. Congress Approves Rescissions Act Cutting Federal Funding for NPR and PBS
North Korea Restricts Foreign Tourist Access to New Seaside Resort
Brazil's Supreme Court Imposes Radical Restrictions on Former President Bolsonaro
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Judge Criticizes DOJ Over Secrecy in Dropping Charges Against Gang Leader
Apple Closes $16.5 Billion Tax Dispute With Ireland
Von der Leyen Faces Setback Over €2 Trillion EU Budget Proposal
UK and Germany Collaborate on Global Military Equipment Sales
Trump Plans Over 10% Tariffs on African and Caribbean Nations
Flying Taxi CEO Reclaims Billionaire Status After Stock Surge
Epstein Files Deepen Republican Party Divide
Zuckerberg Faces $8 Billion Privacy Lawsuit From Meta Shareholders
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
SpaceX Nears $400 Billion Valuation With New Share Sale
Microsoft, US Lab to Use AI for Faster Nuclear Plant Licensing
Trump Walks Back Talk of Firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell
Zelensky Reshuffles Cabinet to Win Support at Home and in Washington
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Irish Tech Worker Detained 100 days by US Authorities for Overstaying Visa
Dimon Warns on Fed Independence as Trump Administration Eyes Powell’s Succession
Church of England Removes 1991 Sexuality Guidelines from Clergy Selection
Superman Franchise Achieves Success with Latest Release
Hungary's Viktor Orban Rejects Agreements on Illegal Migration
Jeff Bezos Considers Purchasing Condé Nast as a Wedding Gift
Ghislaine Maxwell Says She’s Ready to Testify Before Congress on Epstein’s Criminal Empire
Bal des Pompiers: A Celebration of Community and Firefighter Culture in France
FBI Chief Kash Patel Denies Resignation Speculations Amid Epstein List Controversy
Air India Pilot’s Mental Health Records Under Scrutiny
Google Secures Windsurf AI Coding Team in $2.4 Billion Licence Deal
Jamie Dimon Warns Europe Is Losing Global Competitiveness and Flags Market Complacency
South African Police Minister Suspended Amid Organised Crime Allegations
Nvidia CEO Claims Chinese Military Reluctance to Use US AI Technology
Hong Kong Advances Digital Asset Strategy to Address Economic Challenges
Australia Rules Out Pre‑commitment of Troops, Reinforces Defence Posture Amid US‑China Tensions
Martha Wells Says Humanity Still Far from True Artificial Intelligence
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
U.S. Resumes Deportations to Third Countries After Supreme Court Ruling
Excavation Begins at Site of Mass Grave for Children at Former Irish Institution
×