‘The likelihood there’s going to be the Taliban overrunning everything and owning the whole country is highly unlikely,’ said President Joe Biden six weeks ago. This prediction has not aged well.
One harrowing scene this week saw some Afghans trying to escape their new reality by clinging to the wheels of a US Air Force plane as it took off from Kabul airport. Some of them fell to their deaths.
Amidst growing international condemnation of the United States, President Biden has remained unrepentant about the end of the US mission in Afghanistan, arguing it was never about nation building or creating a unified democracy. It was about preventing a terrorist attack on American homeland.
But what impact will events in Afghanistan this week have on the President's future foreign policy decisions?
Joining David Aaronovitch in The Briefing Room are:
Alex Ward, National Security reporter at Politico
Dr Leslie Vinjamuri, Director of the US & Americas programme at Chatham House
Madiha Afzal, Brookings Institution
Prof Michael Clarke, former Director General of RUSI and Professor of Defence Studies at King's College London
Producers: Ben Carter, Kirsteen Knight and Sharon Hemans
Editor: Penny Murphy
Sound Engineer: Graham Puddifoot
