Will the Humanitarian Disaster in Afghanistan Define Joe Biden's Legacy?

The Big Story Podcast on United States legacy in Afghanistan, the security policies initiated by different administrations on Taliban, and President Joe Biden's political future. Image used for representation.

(Photo: Arnica Kala/The Quint)

US President Joe Biden has found himself engulfed in a political storm, as a catastrophe unfolds in Afghanistan in front of our very eyes.

As Afghan nationals are distraught anticipating the return of the dark ages that Afghanistan was shrouded in during the last Taliban rule, Biden is being confronted with the harsh reality of the human suffering that his decision to withdraw US troops from the country, has led to.

While some are calling it his 'Saigon moment', dodging accusations of a messy exit from Afghanistan, Biden reiterated once again that he stood by his decision.

In his first address from the White House since the Taliban recaptured Afghanistan, he said that the blame for the fall of the country, lay squarely on the Afghan government who couldn't eradicate corruption, and their military who couldn't stand up to the terrorist fighters without the US backing them.

Yet, Biden's words have failed to soothe his critics who believe that his actions have not only tarnished America's political integrity, but it's also making people question what America's commitment to democracy really means. With criticisms mounting over this decision, will the Afghan crisis end up defining Biden's legacy?

Throughout this week, over multiple episodes of our daily news podcast, we will try to breakdown the several aspects of the fall of Afghanistan and the many implications of this humanitarian disaster.

In the previous episode of The Big Story, we broke down how the Taliban withstood 20 years of US-led military offensive against them and came back to power once again.

In this episode, we will look at the implications of the Afghan crisis for Biden. Was there any scope to avoid this political and humanitarian wreck? And will the decision to abandon Afghanistan undermine the US’ position internationally?

We spoke to Dr Georg Löfflmann, Visiting Research Fellow in International Security at the University of Warwick and Seema Sirohi, a senior Washington-based journalist and columnist for The Economic Times.