Britain will not leave Afghanistan, Prime Minister Boris Johnson vowed on Friday, even as he confirmed imminent Most embassy employees return In the face of a swift attack by the Taliban.
with Islamists seize control In more Afghan cities, Britain is deploying around 600 troops to help evacuate some 3,000 of its citizens from the country, and Johnson said the “huge bulk” of the remaining embassy staff in Kabul would return to the UK.
Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said President Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw US troops, forcing NATO allies to follow suit, “leaves a huge problem on the ground” and gave impetus to the Taliban.
He predicted it would benefit al-Qaeda, who had been given a safe haven by the Taliban prior to the September 11, 2001 attacks that prompted the West’s 20-year involvement in Afghanistan.
Johnson, however, said after convening crisis talks with senior cabinet colleagues that the West retained a strategic interest in supporting the beleaguered Kabul government.
“I think we have to be realistic about Britain’s power or the power to implement any military solution – a war solution – in Afghanistan,” he told reporters.
“We can certainly work with all of our partners in this region, around the world, who are interested in joining us in preventing Afghanistan from becoming a breeding ground for terror once again.
“What we must do now is not to turn our backs on Afghanistan,” she insisted, adding that Britain can be “extremely proud” of its role in the country, particularly in advancing girls’ education – benefits that Now impressed by the progress of the Taliban.
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The prime minister said officials from the UK Interior Ministry were flying to Kabul to help Afghan interpreters working with the UK military to apply for resettlement in the UK.
Many translators have complained of dragging the British foot, saying they fear for their lives given the Taliban’s risk of retaliation.
‘Total betrayal’
speaking first sky News, Wallace said Biden’s predecessor Donald Trump had secured a “rotten deal” with the Taliban that would have allowed the US to end its longest war, an echo of Britain’s military chiefs who called for the pullout. was stopped.
Tom Tugendhat, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee in the House of Commons, said BBC: “We just pulled the rug out from under them,” referring to the Afghan people.
The Conservative MP, a former reservist soldier who served in Afghanistan, said Britain’s need to send more troops to facilitate its withdrawal was “a sure sign of failure”.
Former International Development Minister Rory Stewart called the withdrawal a “total betrayal by the US and UK”, which risked starting a civil war between rival warlords currently fighting the Taliban.
Johnny Mercer, a Conservative MP and former veterans minister who also fought as an army officer in Afghanistan, called the withdrawal an “disgrace”.
He said, “I think it is a disgrace to the British military, to the families who have lost people there, but above all it is a great tragedy for the people of Afghanistan, who have suffered so much for so many years.” Huh.” times radio.
“We have chosen this defeat and it is shameful.”
The leader of Northern Ireland’s Ulster Unionist Party, Doug Beatty, who made three trips to Afghanistan with British forces, said ordinary Afghans would pay the price.
“We raised the hopes of the Afghan people that we would make something better for them,” he told the Irish state broadcaster RTE.
“And we’re going to dash it with our inaction […] We have made strategic failures, and the latest is to leave Afghanistan as quickly as possible and without any political settlement. “
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