LONDON: An investigation by the UK Parliament has found new evidence of the government’s mishandling of the withdrawal from Afghanistan.
The new information, which was obtained from various departments and agencies, strengthens important testimony from a source in the UK Foreign Office, whose allegation that incompetence “left people to die at the hands of the Taliban” led the government to dealt a serious blow.
The Observer reported in August that thousands of emails related to Afghans in grave danger during the Taliban takeover had gone unread. Critical messages from senior MPs and government ministers were also effectively ignored.
The chairman of the investigation Tom Tugendhat told the newspaper that senior people had come forward to explain the incidents in detail.
He gathered information last week from three Foreign Office officials who worked under Permanent Secretary Sir Philip Barton, who had previously admitted to being on leave for 11 days following the fall of the Taliban in Afghanistan, which Tugendhat told was dubbed “absolutely extraordinary”.
The MP said he is now “more confident” about the testimony of junior officer Rafael Marshall, whose description of the events drew criticism from the government’s handling of the crisis.
“There is nothing I have heard that leads me to believe he is wrong. He and many like him deserve more apologies than apologies,” Tugendhat said.
“They have clearly demonstrated the integrity and ethical standards that we should expect from senior government employees, but they are meeting those standards in the junior ranks, not the senior ones.”
He said the investigation is now examining new evidence. “Since the hearing on Tuesday, I have been approached by individuals from other government departments and, in fact, other agencies, to offer my own perspective on the events in August and beyond,” he said.
“We are discussing how their evidence can be presented. There is a very pervasive feeling that this gets to the heart of something that is not acceptable, and that Britain deserves better.”
In response to developments in the investigation, a UK government spokesman said in a statement: “Government employees worked tirelessly to evacuate more than 15,000 people from Afghanistan within a fortnight.
“It was the largest mission of its kind in generations and the second largest evacuation operation undertaken by any country. We are still working to help others go.
“The scale of the evacuation and the challenging circumstances meant that priority decisions had to be made quickly to ensure that we could help as many people as possible.
“Sadly, we haven’t been able to get everyone we wanted, but our commitment to them is lasting.
“Since the end of the operation we have helped more than 3,000 people leave Afghanistan.”
Tugendhat said the committee would also discuss the military side of the withdrawal with Britain’s Defense Secretary Ben Wallace.
“We are willing to speak to the Defense Secretary, who has agreed to come,” he said. “We want to hear the military perspective on this. We’re very much looking forward to talking to other people who may be involved in different areas. And we’re going to have to sit down and go through a lot of evidence.”
Tugendhat said he wants to make a final report on incidents before blaming individuals or departments for specific failures.
But he termed the scenario a “complete government failure” involving the Foreign Office, the Home Office and the Defense Ministry. He warned that Britain’s allies in Afghanistan had been abandoned as a result of the events.
“There are many people on the ground in Afghanistan today who are guilty of doing nothing but hoping and wishing for a better future,” he said.
“Yet today, the victory of the Taliban means that what we can see is a very serious decline in the life prospects of individuals.
“In many ways we are already seeing this. We are seeing girls being denied education and we are seeing women out of work. These are very serious attacks on civil liberties.”
Tugendat said questions also remain over the high-profile evacuation of nearly 200 dogs and cats from the war-torn country.
Some data has alleged that the animals were chosen to be evacuated in place of people, taking up significant space on planes that took off from Kabul.
The animal’s rescue efforts were led by Pen Farthing, a former Royal Marine who heads the Nauzad Dogs charity.
The whistleblower marshal, who described the “chaotic” events, alleged that vital resources in Kabul were redirected to charities at the expense of Afghans, many of whom had served with British forces in the country for years.
Tugendhat said: “Foreign Office officials made it clear that there was no diversion of resources at all. He also clarified that the army opened the gates and took time to bring the animals inside. How are those two statements compatible, I do not understand. ,
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