Does Afghanistan mark the end of American Empire?

The American appetite for entering into conflict to preserve global dominance seems to be abating.

As Afghanistan continues to be in the spotlight of international media after the Taliban takeover of Kabul, familiar tropes are being regurgitated by the usual suspects. The “graveyard of empires” – is there a more used and abused orientalist trope? – is a favourite reference in analyses and commentaries, as if Afghanistan, like other places, has not been conquered and ruled by foreign forces countless times in history. Questions and doubts abound about whether Afghans are “fit” for the trappings of civilised society, as if these trappings are reserved only for western nations or whether as “noble savages” they were well-intentioned but just too weak or naïve to fight for and preserve what was given to them. But as the western narrative focuses on Afghans and their supposed “failures”, few have reflected on what the events in Afghanistan say about America, the retreating superpower, and its increasing inability to decide global matters.