Former NATO ambassador: ‘Europe highly dependent on US military’

More than 100 people, including 13 U.S. soldiers, were killed in an attack on Kabul airport yesterday. The attack comes after US President Joe Biden decided to leave the country later this month. That announcement caused chaos at the airport. Ivo Dalter, the former US ambassador to NATO, said that “there is a reason in the last twenty years, not with Fiden’s decision.”

Dalter, a former confidant of Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, says the exit is inevitable. “This is behind a policy of 20 years of failure. We must ask ourselves: How could we have done better at an earlier stage to prevent this mess? It’s not just a collective responsibility, it is a responsibility of Pitton.”

‘Europe was quiet’

Biden has been accused by some bad leaders. But Dalter did not agree. “The situation has seemed stable in recent months, but it is because the United States has assured the Taliban that it will leave Afghanistan. That is why they have not already attacked the Americans, even though they have already fought with the Afghan army at the same time.”

Moreover, Dalter says, Europe may have refused to agree to a peace treaty. “If European leaders did not agree to the retreat, they should have said so when President Trump concluded a peace statement with the Taliban in February 2020. But at the time, European leaders and the NATO secretary general were largely silent.”

The Americans now want to leave Afghanistan on Tuesday, August 31st. The rapid departure and the ensuing unrest raise the question of whether the US military should not stay in Afghanistan too long. “By extending the deadline you will only face more chaos and more attacks,” Dalter says. “Americans can’t stop it. Only the Taliban can do it, but do they want to?”

The unrest in Kabul shows that Europe – militarily – is highly dependent on the United States, Dalter concludes. “They have relied on the US military. Now the Europeans have no choice but to leave. Europe may criticize, but they should have consulted themselves beforehand.”