Afghanistan Illustration: Liu Rui/GT

Reports of a missing Afghan baby in recent days have attracted global attention and sparked a discussion on whether the US can fulfill its promise. It tells us neither the baby nor the future of Afghanistan should be pinned on the US. Otherwise, the only people who will be hurt or disappointed are the parents or the Afghans themselves.

An Afghan couple on August 19 handed their two-month-old baby over the fence to a US soldier in the chaos following the US troop withdrawal and hasty evacuation at Kabul Airport, as the parents feared their baby would get crushed in the melee. When they arrived at the other side of the airport fence more than half an hour later, their baby was nowhere to be found and he is still missing, according to media reports.

Citing the baby's father that he saw other families handing their babies over the Kabul airport fence to soldiers at the same time, a report by Reuters mentioned one video clip of a small baby in a diaper being hoisted by her arm over razor wire which went viral on social media. Many US media outlets had hyped this video and its screenshots.

Putting the two things together, that video or its screenshots can be seen as a strong political posturing. The US' 20-year military presence in Afghanistan ended in a mass evacuation, which has undermined the US' international credibility. In this context, some US elites and media outlets saw the video as an opportunity to reverse its global image and demonstrate its so-called humanitarianism. As a matter of fact, US politicians and media concern is not about the safety and well-being of Afghans. 

"The video and its screenshots are just exploited by US media outlets to work as a propaganda tool. The US is good at glamorizing itself. However, what the country does is far less than satisfactory. This is an old trick of the country when dealing with other countries," Li Haidong, a professor at the Institute of International Relations of the China Foreign Affairs University told the Global Times.

It is ironic. How is it possible that people would forget the 20-year humanitarian disaster that the US brought to Afghans merely through a video of helping an Afghan child? The missing Afghan baby suggests that although the US has withdrawn, the humanitarian disaster it created has not concluded. 

On the other hand, the US has given some Afghans, especially those who had some kind of engagement with the US, some kind of illusion. The father of the missing baby is one of them. He reportedly worked as a security guard at the US embassy for 10 years. After reading the report, I wonder what is in the minds of those Afghans who helped the US before. When the US has let them down so many times, they should wake up and not count on Washington to do any of what it promised.

Li said that the missing baby shows once again that the US' promises are unreliable and have no credibility. Washington's commitments and actions are always separate. It is often wrong to judge the US' behaviors just by its commitments.

Reuters cited the father of the missing baby as saying: "Everyone [every person he comes across - aid workers and US officials] promises they will do their best [to find his baby], but they are just promises." It is true. On many occasions, the US just pays lip service.