Biden's 'America is back' takes a step back

"America is back," President Joe Biden proudly proclaimed in his April 28 Address to a Joint Session of Congress.

But, "You know what they say?" Biden continued, speaking of the "38-40" world leaders he had spoken to by then. "You know what they say? The comment I hear most of all from them? They say: 'We see America's back, but for how long? But for how long?'"

Evidently until last weekend, when the Taliban completed its blitz through Afghanistan, culminating in Monday's chaotic catharsis of panicked Afghans on the tarmac of Kabul's main airport, with some clinging futilely to the fuselage of a U.S. military plane.

The withdrawal, set in motion by the Trump administration, didn't surprise world leaders. The method, which looked like madness to adversary and ally alike, stunned them.

"Let me speak clearly and bluntly. This is a catastrophe," Josep Borrell, the European Union's foreign policy chief, said in an address on Thursday.

"This is the greatest debacle NATO has seen since its foundation," Armin Laschet, a front-runner to replace retiring German Chancellor Angela Merkel, said this week.

Amplifying the criticism of a president previously considered a true transatlantic champion, Latvian Defense Minister Artis Pabriks told a radio interviewer. "Unfortunately, the West, and Europe in particular, are showing they are weaker globally."

"Afghanistan is the biggest disaster since Suez," tweeted Tom Tugendhat, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in Parliament. "We need to think how we handle friends, who matters and how we defend our interests."

"I'm a soldier," Ben Wallace, Britain's defense secretary said in an emotional radio interview. "It's sad that the West has done what it's done."

What Biden's done won't undo the transatlantic alliance. But it might make it harder for him to rally allies to challenge China and Russia, two of his administration's oft-stated objectives.

"NATO is based on consultations, and our allies have been in Afghanistan since the very beginning," said Tom Hanson, a former State Department envoy who is now diplomat-in-residence at the University of Minnesota Duluth.

"To the extent that allies feel ignored or not empowered, in a sense that they're asked to be involved in that, that is something that potentially diminishes our influence, our credibility," Hanson added.

"Europe is particularly focused on the implications in terms of waves of humanity coming to Europe," said Daniel S. Hamilton, director of the Global Europe Program at the Wilson Center. "So just as we were in together and out together [in Afghanistan], we're in together again, to have to figure out this next phase and how we can cope with this."

Expect Europe to turn to Afghan neighbors for relief on refugees, Hamilton said, which could prompt this kind of conundrum: "How do you work with Iran on refugees?" he rhetorically asked. "Will Europeans have their checkbooks out and help finance the Iranian assistance to refugees when we are putting sanctions on Iran for its nuclear program?"

The rise in refugees is one factor attributed to the rise in illiberal governance in Hungary and Poland, and those and other European nations' democracies could be tested anew if a new migration crisis sparks a political backlash. That might make Biden's Summit for Democracy in December — designed to "galvanize commitments and initiatives across three principal themes: defending against authoritarianism, fighting corruption, and promoting respect for human rights" — another challenge to U.S. credibility.

It's not just European partners but Asian allies warily watching what happened in Afghanistan. The administration's message may be "we're getting out precipitously and we're speeding this up because we want to focus on things like protecting Taiwan," Hanson said. "Our priority is now shifting to the Asia-Pacific."

But China has sought to undercut that message. An editorial in the Beijing-backed Global Times argued that Afghanistan "was abandoned" by the U.S. and wondered: "Is this some kind of omen for Taiwan's future fate?"

While America's relationships may remain strong, its reputation hasn't, which could impact Biden's pledge.

Biden added that he told Xi what he tells other world leaders: "That America will not back away from our commitments, our commitments to human rights and our fundamental freedom and our alliances. I pointed out to [Xi], no responsible American president could remain silent when basic human rights are being so blatantly violated. An American president has to represent the essence of what our country stands for."

To many in the world, the essence of what our country stands for is unclear. The grim reality present in Kabul clearly didn't match the grandiose rhetoric presented to Congress.

The commitment to human rights and fundamental freedom and alliances are all in question now. Credibility is essential in international affairs, and Biden, who entered office with a retinue of respect from allies wary and weary of former President Donald Trump, has squandered some of his — and America's — credibility.

Winning it back will be difficult. But Biden can best start by doing everything possible, including extending the drawdown deadline, to help Afghans facing Taliban vengeance. That will require risks in getting more interpreters, journalists, government and nongovernment officials out of the country — and overcoming objections among some to settle them in this country at the same rate America welcomed Southeast Asians after Saigon fell.