America should engage with the Taliban, very cautiously
The aim should be to help ordinary Afghans, not to compete with China and Iran
NOW WHAT? The debate about who is to blame for the chaos at Kabul airport over the past few weeks, as well as all the mistakes that went before it, has raged so intensely that what the West should do next has seemed a secondary question. But it has become a pressing one. The last American soldiers left Kabul on August 30th, ending the 20-year effort to shape events in Afghanistan directly. America and its allies must now decide how best to influence the country from a distance.
This article appeared in the Leaders section of the print edition under the headline “Do not move on, move forwards”
From the September 4th 2021 edition
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