What's Next For US Foreign Policy?

Anniversary of 9/11 and fall of Kabul trigger questions over Washington’s interventionism

- Patrick Wintour

The 20th anniversary of 9/11 was always going to be a moment of deep soul searching about what has been lost and learned. But until a few weeks ago, it risked having a historical quality, as the attention of political leaders moved to a more contemporary set of threats – health pandemics, climate emergencies, big tech and great power competition, including the rise of China. The “war on terror”, after all, looked if not won, at least drawn. It was even possible Islamist terrorism was a temporary manageable phenomenon, increasingly confined to Africa and some lethal loners in European shopping centres.

Instead, the end to the US’s 20-year stay in Afghanistan – with the anniversary coinciding with the start of a second Taliban emirate – has injected a thousand volts into the retrospective.

If there is one early victim, it appears to be the concept of nation-building and, possibly, the doctrine of the responsibility to protect.

Joe Biden, a sceptic of an Afghan war extended beyond narrow counterterrorism goals, said earlier this month: “This decision is about ending an era of major military operations to remake other countries.” In language similar to Donald Trump, he argued the US secured its vital national interests in Afghanistan once Osama bin Laden had been sent to “the gates of hell” and his training camps were eliminated. In short, the US military’s democracy export department was closing for business.