Reuters: Afghan withdrawal raises questions about United States, Gulf Arab official says
LONDON (Reuters) - The United States' chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan has raised questions for its Arab allies in the Middle East about whether or not they can continue to rely on Washington, a senior Gulf Arab official said on Monday.
U.S. allies fear the Taliban's return and the vacuum left by the West's chaotic withdrawal will allow militants from al Qaeda to gain a foothold in Afghanistan 20 years after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.
"Afghanistan is an earthquake, a shattering, shattering earthquake and this is going to stay with us for a very, very long time," the Gulf Arab official said on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the diplomacy.
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WNU Editor: It is not only Afghanistan that has shaken the ties between the U.S. and its allies in the Middle East. But it is also decisions like this one .... U.S. Pulls Missile Defenses From Saudi Arabia (September 11, 2021).
8 comments:
Whenever a Democrat is elected the world must assume the US is worthless.
Of two minds on this. On the one hand, the withdrawl was a complete disaster. Everyone already knows this, even the left-stream media (though they'd never admit it). On the other hand, time for our Mid-East "allies" to man up and start pulling their own weight. Gone are the days when the Saudis can train with the very latest US/NATO weapons tech, then get their asses handed to them by a bunch of Yemeni cave dwellers armed with off-the-shelf Iranian weapons. It will take some doing by the US to repair its tattered reputation, but it will take a sea change for the various oil-rich ME countries to get serious about their future survival. On yet another hand, whoever decided it's time to pull US missile defenses from Saudi Arabia either clearly doesn't have a clue how precarious the balance of power is right now in the ME, or they do have a clue and know exactly what they're doing. Can't decide which is scarier.
I don't care about Afghanistan, it's a feature not a bug that nations bordering Afghanistan will contend over its future and the USA will not be a party. The disaster for the US has yet to come.
That disaster is the Arabs dumping the dollar as the settlement currency for their oil sales. If they do that, the dollar will drop in value. With undisciplined Congresses and Presidents over the last few decades flooding the world with dollars, the US consumers will be for shocking inflation. That is the looming disaster. The Arabs have a bargain with the USA that lasted since the 1970's. The USA protects them from outside forces and the Arabs use the dollar and buy lots of products from the USA.
Now the Arabs will hedge their bets. As oil traders they know all about hedging. They will start shifting business from the USA, especially arms trade to China and Russia because they can help with bad relations with Iran or Afghanistan.
"off-the-shelf Iranian weapons"
Can you put a tech level to those weapons?
Lots of stuff is cutting edge until it is off the shelf.
1. Trump gave a date to withdraw and negotiated with Taliban on that.
2. after 20 years why stay when we learned why we were failing there.
3. if allies worried about US let them turn to China or Russia for alliances...will not happen
20 years and not taking care of Pakistan is like fight Germany for 6 years, not ever crossing the borders into Germany and not having a Manhattan project, while they do. Sooner or later one of those ilk would have put the German Manhattan project on the front burner.
Getting out was the right thing to do. Biden did not stick the dismount. It was more like a head first pile driver. But no harm. There is nothing upstairs but mush anymore.
The leaders in China and Russia love their country and are actually educated. American leaders hate their country and are educated in useless drivel that never works. America can be fleeced, China and Russia not so much. They will learn that and be back on our side, which by the way is the losing side.
Ron
Interesting and thought provoking posts this morning.
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