IN APRIL 2021, ON THE DAY he announced the withdrawal of all US troops from Afghanistan, President Biden walked in light rain along the lines of white gravestones in Section 60 of Arlington Cemetery, where those who fell in Afghanistan and Iraq are buried. Pausing briefly to speak to reporters, he said: “I never thought we were there to somehow unify Afghanistan. It’s never been done. It’s never been done.”
This showed contempt for the many millions of Afghans who had worked since the fall of the Taliban 20 years before to build a united republic believing they were one nation, but once again the country found itself defined from outside, framed by others.
In 1989 another superpower withdrew after defeat in Afghanistan.
