The Afghanistan debacle has weakened ties between Britain and America

EVER SINCE Winston Churchill, British prime ministers have boasted of their special relationship with American presidents. Yet this supposedly sunny partnership has experienced its fair share of clouds. The past few weeks have seen a big one, after Joe Biden unilaterally announced that all American troops would leave Afghanistan by August 31st, opening the way to a lightning conquest of most of the country by the Taliban. The chaos that followed at Kabul airport as thousands of frightened Afghans tried desperately to escape has shocked the world—and led even the British to ask if the transatlantic relationship is still working.

This is certainly another unsettled moment. But it is worth remembering that the relationship has survived storms before, from the Suez crisis in 1956, through Harold Wilson’s refusal to enter the Vietnam war, to Richard Nixon’s decision to abandon the gold standard in 1971. Even when relations were warm, there were rows. Margaret Thatcher was infuriated by Ronald Reagan’s unilateral invasion in 1983 of Grenada, a member of the British Commonwealth. Tony Blair was angered by George Bush’s refusal to sign up to climate-change targets. More recently the relationship between Donald Trump and Theresa May was icy, especially when he criticised her Brexit plans. America’s habit of failing to consult even close allies before big decisions dates back decades, not weeks.

Although some Tories privately wanted a Trump re-election last year, Mrs May’s successor, Boris Johnson, must have hoped for better things with Mr Biden. He received the new president’s first phone call to a foreign leader, and in June welcomed him on his first overseas trip. Yet there were signs that the two are not soulmates. When a BBC man asked Mr Biden for comment on the campaign trail, his instant response was “I’m Irish!” He plainly disapproves of Brexit. He has little interest in a trade deal with the British (or anyone else). And his priorities as president are overwhelmingly domestic, not international.

All this helps explain some of the vitriol hurled at Mr Biden over the past couple of weeks for his hasty and shambolic withdrawal from Afghanistan. Unnamed government sources were quoted calling him gaga, or worse, and comparing him unfavourably with Mr Trump. On August 24th, when Mr Johnson as G7 president called an emergency meeting of the group’s leaders, Mr Biden flatly rejected his allies’ request for an extension of the August 31st deadline to pull out all troops. The race is now on to evacuate as many people as possible, even while accepting that thousands with strong claims to protection from America and its allies will be left to face the Taliban’s vengeance.

Behind the headlines, diplomats on both sides insist that relations are still close. Mr Biden…