Afghanistan’s government and military were overthrown on Aug. 15 after being taken over by the Taliban, and the decision to withdraw American troops from the country was widely regarded as correct. However, executing this decision has led to wide-spread criticisms of President Joe Biden. 

Related Stories

Biden implements executive orders to counter Trump’s policy, meets with mild controversy

After presidential inauguration, Biden is quick to get to work

Junior Ted Otengo speaks on insurrection, President Biden, and his experiences in the U.S. as a Black man

While support for the Afghanistan war was high at the time President George Bush pushed for it and Bush’s ratings went from 50 percent to 90 percent in just over a week, the same support has lessened over the years, and the lack of efficacy when it came to withdrawing troops from the country led to frustration among the public. 

Biden’s  fallen ratings are based on a range of factor., AP US History Teacher Kraig Bauer said, “Mainly because there’s a lot of problems going on right now, the situation in Afghanistan was never going to end well. The government should have done a better job of planning ahead. There’s resistance to mask mandates and vaccinations as it has been turned into a political football, mostly by the Republicans.”

Bauer said that the Afghanistan situation was doomed from initiation. “From the beginning, we had no clear plan for victory to set up a viable country with infrastructure,” Bauer said. Afghanistan has always been a divided place historically. Much will change over the next three years, so there are too many unforeseen circumstances to see how this will impact the next election.” 

Bauer ultimately feels the war was justified. “I think it was the right call even now because America had to respond to 9/11 and prove themselves as a force to be reckoned with and a terrorist attack like that cannot go unanswered. They probably should’ve taken troops out of the Middle East after Bin Laden was killed, they should’ve had the foresight to handle that more gracefully rather than continue the war for many more years. This failure is mostly on Obama and Trump for continuing the war that Bush started.” 

The first year of Biden’s presidency got off to a rough start with the riots on the Capitol, followed up by Texas’s abortion controversy, and of course, Afghanistan. As of now, Biden’s approval ratings continue to sink, especially among Black voters, due to his approach toh troubles in African countries. 

Overall, the situation is tense for the Biden administration, and it is up to the president and his staff to make up for a challenging first year in charge. 

Senior Dylan Safai feels as though the president could have an uphill battle to regain the trust of the American public. “I believe there is no singular event for the president to accomplish in order to regain his standing. However, I believe that through the long term initiative he is trying to pass in congress, he could gain some respect again.”

With regards to the 2024 election, Safai said “I do not believe that the Afghan situation will affect the 2024 elections too much due to the wide plethora of events which may occur between now and then.”