(De)securitization and Ontological Security: The Case of the US Withdrawal from Afghanistan.

This article examines the impact of the 2021 U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and the Taliban’s subsequent return to power on the United States’ ontological security—a concept referring to a state’s stable self-identity and sense of continuity. It argues that the Taliban’s resurgence created an ontological security crisis for the U.S., challenging its long-standing narratives about the war on terror and democracy promotion. To address this crisis, the U.S. employed both securitization (framing terrorism as an existential threat) and desecuritization (downplaying the Taliban as a threat) discursive strategies, accompanied by functional actions; however, these efforts met mixed success due to internal dissent and competing international narratives from allies and rivals such as the EU, Russia, China, and Iran. The study highlights how divergent perceptions of the Afghanistan campaign’s goals and outcomes have undermined U.S. credibility and complicated its identity as a dominant global power.