Under the sweltering blanket of multiculturalism, it is constantly drummed into us that all cultures are equal. We might dress differently, speak with different accents and enjoy different cuisines, but ultimately, we're all exactly the same. Those who disagree, we are then told, are mere bigots — racists, xenophobes, and their favorite, Islamophobes — who are motivated by a hateful agenda to impose white Christian nationalism, or something.

Except this isn't the Epcot Center in Disney World. No, it's real life, and in real life, there are good cultures and bad cultures.

For those who are predictably outraged by such an obvious fact, could they perhaps explain why white supremacy (an evil ideology, yes?) is equal to cultures in which skin color is not viewed as the only metric of human value?

Failing that, please explain how the latest heartbreaking news out of Afghanistan — where poverty is rife under the iron grip of the Taliban — is illustrative of the same culture that we enjoy in the West. Stricken by unemployment, hunger and sickness, the combination of desperation and fundamentalist Islam is even resulting in fathers selling their own daughters to avoid destitution.

Of course, this practice is abhorrent, and of course, it is the result of the foundational sexism embraced and fueled by the Taliban which views women and girls as mere articles of property to be used and discarded by men.

But that cannot — and must not — absolve the Biden administration of responsibility.

Now, this current wave of suffering is in part due to the evaporation of Western aid from Afghanistan. Given that Afghanistan is under the control of the Taliban — you know, the guys who harbored al-Qaeda who carried out the attacks of Sept. 11 — it's perfectly reasonable for the United States to refuse to send its enemies endless streams of cash that will only be used to, in one way or another, attack Western values.

In a vacuum, it's not the fault of the United States that the people of Afghanistan are suffering under the Taliban.

But we don't live in a vacuum.

It's not former President Joe Biden's fault that the Taliban are the Taliban, but it is absolutely Joe Biden's fault that he decided to capitulate in Afghanistan, withdrawing American forces in the form of the most incompetent and pathetic military withdrawal in modern memory, and allowing the Taliban to come out of their literal caves and seize back control.

Control over the very people that, as a result of our invasion, we had taken responsibility for.

It is perfectly valid for someone to have opposed the war in Afghanistan (whether at the time or retroactively), but the fact is that we did invade, and therefore, we had an obligation to the people of Afghanistan to not abandon them to the human embodiments of absolute evil that they now find themselves beneath.

The news out of Afghanistan isn't only another reminder of the brutal reality of those who live under the absolute control of fundamentalist Islamists.

It's a reminder of the total moral failure of Joe Biden.

To find out more about Ian Haworth and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

Photo credit: Jon Tyson at Unsplash