One of the biggest elections in this “ultimate election year” is the one scheduled for June, when more than 400 million people in 27 countries will be eligible to vote for a new European Parliament. The elections will have considerable impact not only for the people who live in Europe but also for the rest of the world.
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There are few impulses more deeply rooted in the U.S. political imaginary than the urge to remain aloof from the turmoil that often engulfs the wider world. With the possibility of another era of U.S. withdrawal from aspirations to be the world’s “indispensable nation” now looming, Washington’s allies in Europe need to prepare for it.
Congressional hearings on the Biden administration’s controversial withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 have become a renewed focal point for political narratives about blame. But they also create an opportunity to consider counterfactual hypothetical scenarios that could expand our understanding of the U.S failure in Afghanistan.