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Politico | America’s back … in damage control mode
- President Joe Biden faces frosty G7 leaders meeting on Afghanistan crisis
- Ghosts of previous foreign policy debacles are haunting the summit
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This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by Ryan Heath on politico.com on August 23, 2021.
Two months after G7 leaders met in Cornwall, England, the friendly fist bumps and back slaps have been replaced by backbiting and thinly-veiled accusations of immorality and incompetence.
US President Joe Biden enters Tuesday’s virtual summit with G7 and EU leaders facing a wave of frustration from his closest allies and no easy solutions.
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Leaders in Berlin, Paris, London and Brussels – initially dissatisfied by Washington’s lack of consultation over Washington’s decision to withdraw troops from Afghanistan – are now appalled by missteps in the operation, which they believe has undercut the credibility of Western alliances.
But thanks to chronic underinvestments in defence and diplomacy, the European G7 members have little sway to set a different course. And because of deep divisions over migration policy in Europe, the summit is unlikely to agree on an umbrella policy that would offer protection to the majority of Afghans now at risk of Taliban reprisal.
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