The Beacon of Freedom
For decades America stood as the beacon of freedom for the entire world, until now...
Since the end of World War II, the United States stood as the beacon of freedom to the world. To the uninformed, it still is. Even monumental changes such as those recently happening in the US take time to change a global perception already established over 40 to 50 years.
In 2021, however, it is clear for anyone that follows events in the US that those values that made it such a beacon are no longer prevalent in the political landscape and thus in the country’s official actions.
The Biden Administration’s Afghanistan withdrawal debacle and its public reaction to events send a clear message to anyone interested that America is no longer committed to protecting its allies and not even its citizens.
The world has watched dumbfounded as NGOs work tirelessly to try to get Afghanis that worked in support of American troops, their families, and even American citizens out of Taliban-controlled territory. Meanwhile, in Washington DC, US generals and administration officials explain the inexplicable to Senators. The latter listen, sometimes with perplexed expressions, as no one takes any responsibility for the obvious mistakes made.
You do not need to be a master-strategist or tactician to understand that if you pull out the troops before you pull out the people that the soldiers are supposed to protect, there will be unwanted consequences. Yet, not a single high-ranking officer seems ready to accept their responsibility in that debacle, while the President seems happy to push it on the military advisors.
The military advisors were also more than happy to push the responsibility back to the President, by the way, when asked about it directly in Congress.
The image projected in 2021 by the US is such a far cry from Ronald Reagan’s America that it is almost unrecognizable as the same country.