The geographic distance between Tel Aviv and Kabul is roughly 3,200 kilometers. But after the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, Israel is worried that the Taliban and their radical allies are right next door.
This is a point that Prime Minister Naftali Bennett made in his meeting with President Joe Biden on the eve of the American evacuation. "We live in the world’s toughest neighborhood,” Bennett said. "We’ve got ISIS on our southern border (in Sinai), Hezbollah on our northern border, Islamic Jihad, Hamas and Iranian militias that surround us. And they all want to annihilate the Jewish state.”
Each of these groups has been inspired by the Taliban victory. It has been centuries since a jihadist army has so decisively defeated the combined military forces of the West. The U.S. can pretend that it was merely strategically leaving a pointless battlefield, but the entire Middle East knows better. This was not only a historic humiliation for America, but a model for Jihad extremism.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.