Afghanistan: American Departure and European Lethargy

August 2021 dawns with Afghanistan surrendered to the Taliban, the most extreme, obscurantist Islamic organization on the planet.

Writes Alexandros Despotopoulos

Despite billions of euros spent by the Americans on rebuilding the Afghan army, The Taliban raid was reminiscent of a school trip, where state resistance collapsed like a card in a matter of days.. The dominance was sealed by propaganda, amateurishly directed audiovisual material of happy Afghans unfolding their burqas on the instruments of a forgotten gym and to enjoy the conflict at the Amusement Park in Kabul.

On the opposite bank, pictures of hundreds of people crowded at Kabul airport and hung from the departing planes, collaborators of foreign forces – even members of Western missions, haunting European governments these days.

There is no doubt that the West was surprised by the speed of the Taliban.

When the US-led peace withdrawal agreement with the Taliban was signed in February 2020, Europeans reckoned that the Americans, as the culprits in Afghanistan but also as loyal allies, would take the time to ensure the safe evacuation of Western allies. the settlement of a controlled political situation in the country. Eventually the Americans left, leaving behind a chaotic situation and especially the Europeans suddenly faced with the challenges of new refugee flows, the opium trade and the risk of a resurgence of terrorism.

The crisis in Afghanistan is now becoming a problem for Europe. The Americans have left and Europe is once again embarrassed, disoriented and divided. While Russia and China have announced from the outset that they will maintain their embassies and launch joint military exercises in the wider region, Europe is plagued by well-known introversion and political timidity. While the Americans have already spent more than 1 trillion. In Afghanistan, Europe has barely committed to providing € 1.2 billion in support by 2025. So far, Brussels has been unable to formulate a comprehensive action plan for the reconstruction of the wider region, thus facing the pressure of refugee flows, leaving the wider northern neighborhood under the influence of Russia, China and Turkey.

The failure of the West in Afghanistan, then, is primarily moral, political and social and Europe is absent and weakened in the Middle East and Southeast Asia, favoring the activation of China, Russia, Iran and the Turkey-Pakistan axis. Planning for the future of the region and maintaining any European influence can not be done by individual moves of the member states of the Union, nor ignore the actions of the most obscure regime on the planet

The chaos caused by the American withdrawal and the European lethargy in parts of Asia and Africa are indicative of the political landscape that has formed in the world. The West, as we knew it before the fall of Berlin, no longer exists and its re-establishment, on which the Greek side has also bet on tackling Turkish revisionism, seems uncertain for the time being, mainly due to the different national approaches in Europe, which hinder the development of a common Community policy.

It is frustrating for tEurope can not turn its great economic power into a corresponding geopolitical influence and be drawn by surprise. The inability to meet the technological challenges of the US and China, the dependence on Russian energy and the trade challenge from Asia lead Europe to technological, economic, research and geopolitical defeat.

In such a context, Europe is clearly unable to prevent the creation of refugee flows, but also the revival of Afghanistan in a cell of jihadism, if required by developments. We face the danger of being at the place we were 20 years ago: the return of Jihad terrorism. The only difference, however, is that now there will be no Americans to save us.

* Alexandros Despotopoulos is an Internationalist, researcher at the Department of Turkish and Contemporary Asian Studies, EKPA