America’s Humiliation

And over the past two weeks, we may well have been watching the demise of the United States as the world’s preeminent power. At the very least, America’s world stature has been severely diminished — likely irreparably. Many of us find ourselves more profoundly ashamed of our government than we can ever remember. The late Bernard Lewis’s description of America — “harmless as an enemy and treacherous as a friend” — has taken on new significance.

When the Twin Towers crumbled, all Americans felt violated. But one thing we knew for sure: The United States would respond. By October, US and NATO forces had launched an attack on the Taliban government of Afghanistan, which had provided a haven and state support for al-Qaeda. And within two months, the Taliban had been removed from power.

Now, 20 years later, the Taliban has triumphantly returned to power, decked out in the latest American military gear, taken after the US abandoned Bagram Air Force base in the middle of the night, without consulting either its Afghani or NATO allies. And this time the one thing we know for sure: No matter how many American citizens, green card holders, and those who worked with the allied forces (numbering in the hundreds of thousands) the Taliban executes or holds for ransom,  perhaps using the lists of names we helpfully supplied them — there will be no US military response.

Andy McCarthy, the lead prosecutor in the first Twin Tower bombing case, reminds us that the American mission in Afghanistan was an anti-terrorism mission — what former president Obama once called the “good war.” Al-Qaeda had in large part been able to attack America because it enjoyed a safe haven and state support. Our intervention in Afghanistan removed that haven. In the 20 years since, there has not been another remotely comparable terrorist attack on the United States.