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

Afghanistan

Agence France-Presse

Published: 11:05am, 18 Aug 2021

Why you can trust SCMP

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.

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.

Joe Biden, in speech on Afghanistan’s rapid fall, defends his decision on US exit

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.

The White House released this photo of President Joe Biden at Camp David, staring pensively at officials on a monitor, surrounded by empty seats. Photo: Reuters

Alone at Camp David

The photo showing Biden being briefed on the situation in Afghanistan by video conference while on retreat at a presidential resort was published Sunday by the White House.

But even as the commander-in-chief hears from a number of military and security advisers, the image portrays him as isolated, silent and immobile in a big room, seated at a long table with many empty chairs. Many US media, including progressive outlets, called the picture a public relations blunder.

A US Chinook helicopter hovering over the US embassy in Kabul. Photo: AP

The helicopter at the embassy

The photograph of a heavy-lift Chinook helicopter flying over the US embassy in Kabul on Sunday, apparently to evacuate embassy personnel, has drawn comparisons to a similar image taken of the 1975 fall of Saigon as the Vietnam war ended in humiliation.

Republicans immediately seized on the image to blast the US leader, calling it “Biden’s Saigon”.

Just last month, during a press conference at the White House, Biden sought to reassure Americans that “there’s going to be no circumstance where you see people being lifted off the roof of an embassy of the United States from Afghanistan”

Taliban fighters taking control of Afghanistan’s presidential palace. Photo: AP

The Taliban in the presidential palace

Armed with Kalashnikov rifles and wearing black turbans, Taliban militants posed for photographs inside the presidential palace in Kabul after President Ashraf Ghani fled the country, in images that were sure to become iconic.

To make matters worse, one of the militants in the widely shared pictures claimed that he had spent eight years in the notorious US prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

03:24

At least 7 people killed at Kabul airport as thousands of Afghans try to flee Taliban: US officials

Panic at the airport

The dramatic video showing dozens of Afghanis running after a US military plane as it was lifting off from Kabul’s airport and trying desperately to cling on to the aircraft has made headlines around the world.

The footage flew in the face of the Biden administration’s promise in recent weeks that the evacuation would unfold smoothly.

Afghan citizens crammed into a US Air Force C-17 plane. Photo: DPA

Afghans crammed into cargo plane

The photo of 640 Afghans squeezed inside a US Air Force cargo plane is a powerful symbol of the haste, chaos and anguish that marked the evacuation effort.

The Pentagon sought to refute that message Tuesday, saying that the image in fact demonstrated the US army’s compassion. “It speaks to the humanity of our troops in this mission,” said spokesman Major General Hank Taylor.

Additional reporting by Reuters