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The Afghanistan images that could tarnish Joe Biden’s legacy
- Seizure of power by the Taliban generates images sure to make history
- US President Joe Biden has scrambled to limit damage to his credibility
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When US President Joe Biden appeared in the White House East Room on July 8 to stress that the US pull-out from Afghanistan was proceeding apace, he declared that a Taliban takeover of the country was not inevitable.
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Five weeks later, the Taliban is in charge, scenes of chaos at the Kabul airport from the evacuation of Americans and US-aligned Afghan citizens has transfixed the world, and Biden is scrambling to defend himself from a series of miscalculations that have damaged US credibility.
Biden’s approval rating in the US dropped by 7 percentage points, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll, and hit its lowest level so far. The president’s popularity dropped as the Taliban entered the capital, Kabul, wiping away two decades of US military presence that cost nearly US$1 trillion American taxpayer dollars and thousands of American lives.
The seizure of power by the Taliban has generated images that are sure to make history and threaten to leave a stain on Biden’s legacy.
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Alone at Camp David
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