Biden’s Afghanistan withdrawal will be one of the great achievements of his presidency

Biden’s decision has been condemned in recent days, but will ultimately be vindicated. REUTERS / Alamy Stock Photo

The last time the Taliban entered Kabul, 25 years ago, one of their first stops was at the UN compound in the city. There they abducted one of the country’s previous presidents, Mohammad Najibullah, and, after torturing and shooting him, they dragged his castrated body behind a truck through the streets of the city. Then they strung him up from a lamppost and stuffed his genitals into his mouth.

The Talibs are not nice people. But amid the general opprobrium being heaped on President Joe Biden for heading for an American exit from Afghanistan, it’s useful to think about what the alternatives were. On the BBC some British military figures have argued, with a straight face, that a more softly-softly drawing-down of American forces in the country might have hoodwinked the Taliban into thinking that we were…