Ministers were last night accused of presiding over the biggest foreign policy disaster in 65 years since the Taliban took control Afghanistan.
After 20 years of occupation by Western forces, which claimed 457 British lives and cost £22 billion, the rebels captured the capital, Kabul, after driving out the Afghan forces in just a week.
The astonishing fall of Afghan rule prompted the families of British soldiers killed fighting in the country to say they felt like their loved ones gave their lives for nothing.
Last night there was a desperate scramble by thousands of British citizens and diplomats to escape from Kabul – helped by RAF planes, paratroopers and SAS.
Amidst dramatic scenes, most of the UK embassy staff were taken out of town on an RAF transport plane.
But after Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport was closed for civilian flights, there were fears that hundreds of Afghan translators were in a hurry to flee. More than 1,000 translators and their family members are believed to still be in the country, potentially at the mercy of counter-Taliban fighters.
The coffin of Acting Sergeant Michael Lockett is moved from Cathcart Old Parish Church during his funeral in Glasgow, October 15, 2009.
A US Chinook helicopter flies over the city of Kabul as diplomatic vehicles exit the compound after the Taliban advance in the Afghan capital
Boris Johnson leads the Cobra emergency committee meeting and orders the recall of Parliament on Wednesday
The situation in the city appeared to be deteriorating rapidly with reports of explosions and firing at the airport late last night. Chaotic scenes erupted in the departure hall, some people were shouting and an apparent stampede broke out.
The US embassy in Kabul issued a directive for US citizens to still “shelter” in the city, citing the rapidly changing security situation.
Britain has already sent 600 paratroopers to help with the evacuation, but last night there were claims that Britain could deploy more with the Royal Marines on standby.
Meanwhile, dramatic images show Taliban fighters inside Kabul’s presidential palace after Afghan forces collapse and President Ashraf Ghani flees the country, believed to be bound for Tajikistan. He later said that he had gone to ‘avoid the bloodshed’.
Last night Britain and the US were accused of ‘shameful’ failure and abandoning the Afghan people. Now there are fears of humanitarian disaster as refugees try to flee the country, the brutal re-establishment of the Taliban regime and the resurgence of Al Qaeda’s global terror network.
Taliban fighters capture the Afghan presidential palace after Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled the country in Kabul, Afghanistan
A Taliban fighter poses with a US-made Afghan Air Force Blackhawk helicopter at Kandahar airfield
The Taliban stand by the side of the road in Kandahar after capturing much of Afghanistan. The scale and speed of the Taliban’s progress has rattled the Afghan and US-led coalition investing billions in the country
Tom Tugendat, chairman of the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, said it was the “biggest single foreign policy disaster” since the Suez crisis, while Defense Committee chairman Tobias Ellwood said the “surrender” to the Taliban was a disgrace. On an extraordinary day:
- Taliban fighters prepare to declare the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan as they pose at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in Kabul;
- Diplomats were escorted away from the US embassy in Vietnam in scenes reminiscent of the fall of Saigon;
- Boris Johnson led the Cobra emergency committee meeting and ordered the recall of Parliament on Wednesday;
- Prime Minister stressed that the West needs to work collectively to ensure that Afghanistan does not again become a ‘breeding ground for terror’;
- Britain called for urgent meetings of NATO’s North Atlantic Council and the United Nations Security Council, as the prime minister issued warnings to Russia and China not to unilaterally recognize the Taliban-led government;
- Mr Johnson vowed to leave the country as working Afghans with Britain, but sadly the situation was ‘extremely difficult’;
- Britain’s ambassador to Afghanistan, Sir Laurie Bristow, halted plans to leave the country and remained at Kabul airport to help process applications from those wishing to leave;
- The video showed a chaotic scene with hundreds of people trying to board military transport planes;
- Fearing the Taliban, Afghans rushed to leave the country, lined up at cash machines to withdraw their life savings;
- Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab was forced to curtail his overseas leave amid criticism of his absence.
As recently as Friday night, British officials believed they had days, if not weeks, to evacuate Kabul after the Taliban progressed across the country. But it turned out to be a horrific miscalculation when fighters from the radical Islamist group entered the capital yesterday morning. By noon, the Afghan President had fled and the Taliban had captured the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Helicopters carried diplomats from the US embassy to the airport, while smoke was seen rising from the roof as sensitive material was burnt.
The Taliban’s takeover of the country comes just five weeks after President Joe Biden confidently answered ‘none, zero’ when asked if he saw any parallels between Vietnam and the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Last night, the families of British soldiers killed during the Afghan operation reacted with fury about how the country was left to fall back into the hands of the Taliban. Sarah Adams, whose son James Prosser died at the age of 21 after her Warrior armored vehicle was blown up in 2009 while serving with the Royal Welsh 2nd Battalion, said last night that she had to ‘ask it. What was his sacrifice left for’.
The 59-year-old from Qumbran said, ‘It is devastating to see what is happening in Afghanistan over the past few days. ‘Everything he did will soon be broken. It is heartbreaking to see what is happening, not only for the families who have lost their sons and husbands, but also for those who have served and are still suffering physical and mental injuries. Huh. Now it seems none of it was worth it.’
Wendy Renner, who lost her husband Peter in 2010 at the age of just 34, said she was ‘absolutely disgusted’, adding: ‘It just feels like a complete slap in the face after all the sacrifices made by people like my husband’ Is’ .’
Sergeant Rainer, of the 2nd Battalion The Duke of Lancaster Regiment, was leading his men on a routine patrol in the province of Helmand when he was killed by an improvised explosive device. His widow has now written to the prime minister demanding an inquiry into why Britain’s sacrificial achievements in Afghanistan were ruined within days.
Jack Cummings, a veteran who lost both his legs in Afghanistan in 2010, tweeted: ‘Was it worth it, maybe not. Did I lose my legs for nothing, it seems. Did my companions die in vain? Yes.’
Major General Charlie Herbert, who lost many soldiers in the conflict, said the “bravery and bloodshed” of the soldiers and women turned to dust within days.
He continued: ‘How embarrassing. How unforgivable I have no words to describe how angry I am.’ Despite the scramble to evacuate, Ambassador Sir Laurie Bristow was asked to remain in the city last night. Mr Johnson said he is helping process applications from people wishing to drop off at the airport. The prime minister insisted yesterday that Britain can ‘look back on 20 years of effort and achievement in Afghanistan’, as he argued he wants to ‘make sure we don’t throw away those gains’.
UK military personnel aboard an RAF Voyager aircraft at RAF Breeze Norton for a visit to Afghanistan on August 14, 2021
He said: ‘Remember we went to Afghanistan 20 years ago because the US was attacked and the US decided to implement Article 5 of the NATO treaty, which calls for mutual defense from all US allies and to solve a particular problem. was called upon. There was an appeal to help solve – the presence of al Qaeda. Afghanistan. And to a large extent, we helped America sort it out, and as a result of that effort, there is no Afghanistan-born terror or Afghanistan-born terror on the streets of the West.
But former Defense Secretary Lord Robertson, who was NATO’s secretary general on 9/11, angrily accused the government of a ‘lack of purpose’. “I am saddened by the prospect of the Taliban returning to control of Afghanistan on the occasion of the 20th anniversary,” he said.
The Taliban’s rise to power was fueled by President Biden’s announcement in April that all US troops would leave Afghanistan by the end of this month.
At the time he had said the country would be left in an orderly state, but privately US intelligence predicted a return to power for the Taliban in Afghanistan within six to 12 months. Last week it emerged that the estimate had been revised down to three months – but it turned out to be more like three days.
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