“Joe Biden was wrong to withdraw troops from Afghanistan, but he still has time and power to help Ukraine,” says former British minister

1192 readings

Joe Biden has announced his withdrawal from the US presidential race. He made two big mistakes during his presidency. The first was to spend massively, injecting nearly $2 trillion into the post-Covid economy on top of well-founded spending on infrastructure and technology. As a result, the US national debt reached $34 trillion, five years earlier than anticipated before the pandemic.

Biden’s second big mistake was withdrawing the last US troops from Afghanistan, which predictably led to a complete collapse and the return of the Taliban. As a result, confidence in the West has suffered a devastating blow, says William Hague, former British Foreign Secretary, in The Times.

Biden can help the West avoid another disaster even more widespread than Afghanistan

However, with six months left in his term, Biden can help the West avoid another disaster with even greater implications than Afghanistan. Biden has been a staunch supporter of Ukraine, but has always been very cautious about how US-supplied weapons might be used. President Zelenskiy’s main request during his recent visits to the UK and America was to allow the use of missiles received from the US against targets inside Russia. Now is the time to honor that demand, Hague argues.

The bleak outlook for Ukraine, especially if Trump is elected, is that it could find itself in a predicament similar to Afghanistan. If this continues, not only Russia, but also China, Iran and North Korea will learn the lesson that the West can always be outgunned, that it will always lose interest, and that a new president with different priorities will always come.

“Biden was always wrong when he said Afghanistan could be left behind to focus more on the strategic threat from China. An even bigger mistake is the statement by JD Vance, the Republican vice presidential candidate, that Ukraine doesn’t matter because the real problem is Beijing. “Failure to support allies and give them the tools to defend themselves will only make it more likely that Kim Jong-un will take decisive action and Xi Jinping will make inroads into Taiwan,” Haig writes.

Biden can have a decisive impact on the situation

The author believes that allowing Ukraine to fire Western weapons at airfields and other military targets in Russia, not just in the border region near Kharkiv, would have a major impact on the course of the war and put Ukraine in a stronger position in any future peace talks. However, the White House is unwilling to do so.

“Biden can have a decisive impact on the situation. It is too late to save Afghanistan, but he still has time and power to help Ukraine”, concluded the former British parliamentarian.

The Financial Times believes that Joe Biden will focus on foreign policy in his final months in office. One of Biden’s top priorities will be ensuring maximum support for Ukraine if Trump wins the election.

The Telegraph writes that despite all Trump’s negative remarks about Ukraine, now that Biden is out of the presidential race, the Republican could see the political benefits of the initiative to help Kiev.