A White House official said the US remains committed to its allies despite the recent haste withdrawal from Afghanistan. The move has also drawn criticism and concerns about Taiwan being "abandoned" by the US. Some experts believe it is a false analogy and could be a tactic of "psychological warfare"directed by China.
The US has hastily withdrawn from Afghanistan, ending its 20-year mission. The chaos it left behind has shocked the world and severely damaged the US' global image. There are also concerns that whether Taiwan will face a similar result. White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan reiterated the US' commitment to Taiwan during a press conference on Aug. 17, saying it has not changed and the situations of Afghanistan and Taiwan are distinct.
Jake Sullivan, US National Security Advisor:” It was the time for the United States to say that the Afghan people had to stand up for themselves. We believe our commitments to our allies and partners are sacrosanct and always have been. We believe our commitment to Taiwan and to Israel remains as strong as it's ever been.”
Sullivan said the US remains committed to its allies. Numerous recent Chinese media reports have warned Taiwan not to rely on the protection from the US, some even threatened "today Afghanistan, tomorrow Taiwan." Yun Sun, director of the China Program at the US think tank Stimson Center, said this comparison is completely baseless. She believes this is a type of "psychological warfare" directed by China to sow distrust among Taiwanese that the US is an unreliable ally.
Ding Shuh-fan, Professor Emeritus, Grad. Inst. of East Asian Studies, NCCU: ”For Beijing, this is of course a gift from heaven. It's such a convenient opportunity for it to use psychological warfare to frighten Taiwan. China will need to spend a lot of energy to handle central Asian countries including Afghanistan.”
National Chengchi University professor emeritus Ding Shuh-fan said China is using the Afghan situation to wage psychological warfare so that the blue camp will begin to loosen its defenses. He believes the US won't rashly withdraw from the Asia-Pacific region. Contrary, the withdrawal from Afghanistan clears more efforts for the US to dedicate to the Indo-Pacific region, in which peace across the Taiwan Strait is a salient issue. It remains to be seen whether China will be able to affect the political situation in Afghanistan.
美國撤軍阿富汗，結束長達20年軍事任務，混亂局勢引起國際局勢震盪，美國的國際形象更受到衝擊，外界有聲音擔心台灣等盟友也會遭到美國拋棄，白宮國家安全顧問蘇利文，18號在記者會上堅定重申對台灣承諾不變，也強調阿富汗和台灣兩者情況不同。
美國國家安全顧問 蘇利文：「美國是時候說阿富汗人民，必須為自己挺身而出我們相信，我們對盟友和合作夥伴的承諾，是神聖不可侵犯的，而且一直如此
我們相信我們對台灣和以色列的承諾一如既往堅實。」
蘇利文捍衛美國對盟友的承諾，近來中國官媒頻頻釋出台灣不要期待美國會保護他們，甚至有聲音傳出「今日阿富汗，明日台灣」，美國史汀生中心中國專案主任孫韻就指出，這種對比完全站不住腳，認為這是中國對台灣的一種「攻心戰」，目的是要告訴台灣人民美國不可靠。
政大東亞所名譽教授 丁樹範：「北京當然這是個天上掉下來，這麼便宜的機會他當然用心裡戰來嚇台灣，中國必須要花很多的精力去處理阿富汗包括中亞國家。」
丁樹範認為中國利用阿富汗事件進行心戰攻勢，讓藍營開始鬆動心防，他觀察美國不會輕易撤出亞太地區，反而在撤軍阿富汗後會更加投入心力在印太地區，而這邊首重就是台海和平，至於中國是否有能力影響阿富汗政局，這還有待觀察。