Djaalal, Meriem

This article analyzes the discrepancy between US military superpower status, economic might, and effective leadership following its withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021. By examining the withdrawal's chaotic execution and the strategic inconsistency of negotiating with the very adversaries of the U.S, the paper interrogates how such a setback affects a superpower's reputation for competence and reliability. Employing a qualitative methodology relying on primary sources such as official policy documents and diplomatic statements and secondary sources, such as authoritative analyses from research institutes and academic journals, this article argues that the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan was inevitable after a two-decade-long misuse of power, driven by strategic hubris, a phenomenon explained by realist theories on the limits of hard power and the cognitive psychology of the Dunning-Kruger effect with bureaucratic infighting intensified this strategic failure, ensuring the departure was as mismanaged as the war itself.