US policy towards Afghanistan and Afghans was based on unrealistic expectations and a poor understanding of the region – an attitude that resulted in a major foreign policy failure, Michael Rubin, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, told Fox News.
"We were looking at Afghanistan through the lens of idealism and ideology. Here we were building a democracy. From an Afghan point of view, they were looking at it through the lens of survival," he explained, referring to the US invasion and two-decade occupation of the sovereign country.
The US hastily withdrew from Afghanistan in 2021 in a manner that triggered memories of Vietnam, with social media overflowing with images of a chopper picking up American personnel from rooftops.
The analyst believes that apart from major intelligence failures about the Taliban’s* capabilities, the US also failed diplomatically, completely misunderstanding local society, as well as the intentions of neighboring countries, who could secretly sympathize with the Islamic movement.
“I would call it a diplomatic failure,” Rubin says.
He laments that the US retreat created a vacuum that is being filled by Russia and other non-Western powers.
Despite US allegations, however, Moscow has made it clear that its priority is security in the region. Since the Taliban maintains “real power” in the country, as Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has explained, Russia is considering delisting it as a banned organization and boosting ties with the current government in Kabul.
*Under UN sanctions for terrorist activities