A bottomless labyrinth, a fire spreading everywhere, a tank fleeing in a hurry.
The cover of an upcoming issue of New Yorker depicts the fate of the United States in Afghanistan over the past 20 years with an introductory and profound picture.
On August 23, the New Yorker website introduced the cover of a magazine issue that will be released on the 30th. The cover, painted by American artist Christoph Niemann and titled Exit Strategy, focuses on the rushed U.S. evacuation of Afghanistan over the past few weeks.
Including this image, many pictures and tweets about the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan have caused a strong reaction on social media outside the country. Some people and politicians belonging to the two parties in the United States have used this as an excuse to continue the verbal dispute.
Niyman is a well-known American illustrator and author who has contributed to The New Yorker since 1998 and has drawn 26 covers for the magazine to date. Judging by the elements presented, the painting, called Retreat Strategy, consists mainly of labyrinths, high walls, flames, and a tank.
The tank entered through one of the openings of the maze, made only a shallow detour, and escaped again, starting from the same starting point as the end point. Where the tanks passed, what was left were ruins and broken walls and widespread fires. Outside the frame, there is a continuous labyrinth.
Niemann explains his inspiration for painting: "This [U.S. evacuation of Afghanistan] was a terrible moment, with too much despair and sadness, but I found abstract paintings that could distill my emotions without labeling or adding explanations... I try to focus on visual metaphors. ”
"In this example, the labyrinth can also be a linguistic metaphor." "What I want to show is two completely incompatible systems— a state backed by foreign armies that can't be built in a complex and divided tribal society," Nieman explains. ”
On social media, many people were impressed by this idea.
"I completely agree with the powerful work."
"Beautiful. The only thing missing is that people come to Afghanistan with hope and leave devastated. ”
It has been suggested that the taunts could be more intense.
"There are no human corpses. In the painting, it seems that only one side of the human giant and ugly thing, please repaint. ”
Introducing the painting, The New Yorker wrote: "U.S. President Joe Biden set a withdrawal date in April, but the sudden collapse of the Afghan government and military in the weeks leading up to the official U.S. withdrawal date brought disastrous news of many geopolitical and humanitarian crises." ”
"Our contributing writer, Robin Wright, wrote over the weekend (22nd): 'The 20-year-long disaster in Afghanistan is finally over. To Americans, Afghanistan looks a bit like a trillion-dollar discard. Meanwhile, Afghans are in free fall. ’”
Frustration spreads throughout American society, but some people and politicians have turned it into "fodder" for partisanship. On August 17 and 18, two tweets were posted by "Big V", and the tweet about the "exit strategy" was "contrasting with each other", which was quite ironic.
First, on the 17th, Republican Rep. Andy Biggs commented: "Let's clarify before Biden and his partners begin to blame Trump for the Disaster in Afghanistan: Biden abandoned Trump's peace plan and exit strategy and created his own peace plan and exit strategy at will." Biden is fully responsible for the disaster. ”
And on the 18th, Japanese-American actor George Takei of the pro-Democratic Party tweeted sarcastically: "Trump does have a strategy to withdraw from Afghanistan." He would evacuate the White House and then leave the mess to Biden. ”
The 20 years of U.S. troops in Afghanistan have left more disasters and deaths. Last week, CNN commented: "It is shocking that a war that killed or maimed thousands of Americans and more Afghan civilians died or maimed, costing a trillion dollars, ended abruptly with such a disgraceful result." ”
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