Biden's approval rate hits record low after Taliban retakes Kabul

U.S. President Joe Biden's approval rating dropped by 7 percentage points, hitting the lowest recorded in weekly Reuters/Ipsos polls that started when Biden took office in January. It happened after the Taliban retook Afghan capital Kabul on Sunday, with the collapse of the Afghan government and, two decades after the U.S.-led invasion and occupation that cost over 6,000 American lives and over $2 trillion.

Approval of Biden's handling of Afghanistan – after he ordered a full troop withdrawal back in April, a sign many experts believe sped up the Afghan government collapse – is even lower than that of former President George W. Bush, who ordered the invasion of Afghanistan and entrenched the U.S. in the costly and ultimately futile effort to foster new leadership in the country.

Taliban fighters are seen in Mehtarlam, capital of Laghman province, eastern Afghanistan, August 15, 2021. /Xinhua

"When the U.S. announced a total withdrawal, that sent a signal to Afghan soldiers and police that the end was near, and converted chronically poor motivation into acute collapse as nobody wanted to be the last man standing after the others gave up," Stephen Biddle, professor of international and public affairs at Columbia University, told CNBC.

Taliban's quest for an 'inclusive government'

"Afghanistan will have a strong, Islamic government," a Taliban spokesperson said as they held their first official news briefing since their lightning seizure of the Afghan capital.

The Taliban said they wanted peaceful relations with other countries and would respect the rights of women within the framework of the Islamic law. Their announcements were short on details but suggested a line softer than the one during their rule 20 years ago.

According to the group, one of their leaders and co-founders, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, had returned to Afghanistan for the first time in more than 10 years. Baradar was arrested in 2010, but released from prison in 2018 at the request of former U.S. President Donald Trump's administration so he could participate in peace talks.

"We don't want any internal or external enemies," the movement's main spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said.

Women would be allowed to work and study and "will be very active in society but within the framework of Islam," he added.As they rushed to evacuate, foreign powers assessed how to respond after Afghan government forces melted away in just days, with what many had predicted as the likely fast unraveling of women's rights.

Mujahid said the Taliban would not seek retribution against former soldiers and government officials and were granting an amnesty for former soldiers as well as contractors and translators who worked for international forces.

"Nobody is going to harm you, nobody is going to knock on your doors," he said, adding that there was a "huge difference" between the Taliban now and 20 years ago.

A wrenching choice for the West

The U.S. military and diplomats have spoken to the Taliban to ensure evacuations from Kabul but Biden's administration said it will look at Taliban's actions to decide on the long-term relationship.

In Britain, which followed Biden in withdrawing forces, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said that "ordinarily" London would not deal with the Taliban due to their human rights standards.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also made it clear that his government had no plans to recognize the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan.

"When they were in government 20 years ago, Canada did not recognize them," said Trudeau on Tuesday, who is currently campaigning for re-election after he launched the election on Sunday. Two aircraft carrying diplomats, troops and Afghans from Kabul landed in Canada Monday night.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell put it bluntly on Tuesday: "The Taliban have won the war, so we will have to talk with them."

As for Russia, where Taliban are designated as members of a terrorist organization, its ambassador to Afghanistan said the takeover had made Kabul safer in the first 24 hours than it had been under the previous authorities.

China said it hopes that the Taliban can make a clean break with all kinds of international terrorist forces.

"For a long time, China has maintained contact with the Afghan Taliban based on full respect for the national sovereignty of Afghanistan and the will of various factions in the country, and played a constructive role in promoting the political settlement of the Afghan issue," said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying in a regular news briefing in Beijing on Tuesday.