Editor's note: Andrew Korybko is a Moscow-based American political analyst. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily those of CGTN. 

One of the top talking points during former U.S. President Donald Trump's four years in office was that he was destroying his country's reputation at home and abroad. But his successor President Joe Biden has arguably done much more damage to America's image than Trump ever did.

The disastrous U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan under the Biden government has abandoned both local Afghan allies and Americans in Afghanistan, estimated to be in thousands. It has made the rest of the world see how unreliable the U.S. is as an ally and even many Americans no longer think their government cares about their lives.

The dramatic scenes unfolding at the Kabul airport since the Taliban takeover on August 15 aren't what observers expected when they heard that the world's supposedly most powerful military was evacuating from Afghanistan. The U.S. was caught off guard by the Taliban's lightning-fast conquest of the country though the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the U.S. State Department had predicted exactly this scenario.

It's unclear why the Biden administration didn't heed these warnings. Some politicians are demanding political accountability for this disaster and Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene has submitted three articles of impeachment against the president.

The average Americans are angry that thousands of their compatriots have been left to fend for themselves in the war zone, with their lives at the mercy of the Taliban.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin contradicted Biden's claim that Americans can safely access the Kabul airport, saying, "We're also aware that some people, including Americans, have been harassed and even beaten by the Taliban." Such mixed messaging used to be a characteristic of the Trump era and few expected it to continue during the Biden one, but clearly, not all officials are on the same page when it comes to Afghanistan.

This observation has unnerved a lot of Americans, who want their government to remain united in the face of this unprecedented military and humanitarian disaster that is its own creation. Thousands of lives are on the line but there's a dangerous disconnect between the president and his secretary of defense.

The other concern in the U.S. society is the fate of tens of thousands of Afghan allies, who fear retribution from the Taliban for working with the U.S. forces. Although the U.S. claims it has rescued thousands of Afghan allies, many more are still swarming the Kabul airport in their desperation to escape. Biden presented himself as the opposite of Trump upon assuming office, and claimed that human rights would be at the forefront of his foreign policy. Yet these people are suffering before the world's eyes and he doesn't seem to care.

In addition, internationally, American allies across the world have now reason to doubt America's commitment to their security. Can defense allies such as Japan, the Philippines, and the Republic of Korea count on U.S. support during a crisis, contrary to what they had previously assumed? If the U.S. can abandon thousands of its own citizens and local allies in Afghanistan, where it also poured over $2 trillion for reconstruction, then there's no reason why it won't do the same to other countries.

Biden's slogan "America is back" therefore rings hollow. America's reputation is in tatters. In light of Biden's withdrawal disaster, it is being said that Trump's "America First" vision would have ensured that U.S. troops were not withdrawn from Afghanistan before evacuating U.S. civilians, nor would have local allies been abandoned. Trump made the world fear the U.S. Biden's bungling has removed the world's fear and respect for America.

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