How damaging has the Afghanistan withdrawal been to Joe Biden?
The decline in his approval ratings over two weeks has been worse than 94% of fortnights going back to Nixon’s inauguration
THE BEGINNING of September marked the end of America’s 20-year campaign in Afghanistan. It also marked the end of President Joe Biden’s worst month in office. The electorate’s mood had soured on the intervention a long time ago: ending the “forever wars” was a campaign promise both of Mr Biden and of Donald Trump. Even so, many Americans were appalled once the immediate consequences of withdrawal became visible. They included the swift collapse of the Afghan government, the scenes of human tragedy during the evacuation at Kabul airport and the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) suicide-bombing soon afterwards that killed at least 180 people, including 13 American soldiers. As for Mr Biden, he would like to turn to the next chapter of his presidency. It will not be so simple.
This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline “Polling realpolitik”
United States September 4th 2021
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