With stunning speed, the Taliban’s lightning onslaught across Afghanistan reached the capital Kabul itself. By late Sunday, President Ashraf Ghani was said to have left the country. Pictures of helicopters lifting off from the US embassy recalled the humiliating fall of Saigon in 1975 — something President Joe Biden dismissed just last month as implausible. This is a tragedy for the people of the country, and a betrayal of the thousands of US and allied troops — and more than 120,000 Afghans — who died in 20 years of war. It is a grave setback, too, for the credibility of the US and of the community of democracies Biden hoped to cement.
塔利班以惊人速度在阿富汗全国各地发起的凌厉攻势已经触及首都喀布尔。上周日晚，阿富汗总统阿什拉夫•加尼(Ashraf Ghani)据说已离开这个国家。直升飞机在美国驻阿富汗大使馆起飞的景象让人想起1975年西贡沦陷的羞辱——就在上月，美国总统乔•拜登(Joe Biden)还满不在乎地认为这种情况是不可能发生的。这是阿富汗人民的悲剧，也是对在20年战争中丧生的数千名美国及其盟国官兵以及逾12万阿富汗平民的背叛。对美国——以及拜登希望巩固的民主国家阵营——的可信度来说，这也是一个极其严重的挫折。