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Secretary of Defense Ben Wallace said that Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw troops left a very big problem on the ground.
Britain will not abandon Afghanistan, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson vowed on Friday, although he confirmed that most embassy staff are about to withdraw to face the onslaught by the Taliban.
As the insurgents seize control of more Afghan cities, the UK is deploying about 600 soldiers to help evacuate its approximately 3,000 nationals from the country. Johnson said that a “large number” of embassy staff remaining in Kabul will return to the UK .
Defense Secretary Ben Wallace stated that President Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw US troops forced the NATO allies to follow suit and “leaves a very big problem on the ground” and handed the momentum to the Taliban.
However, Johnson said after convening crisis negotiations with senior cabinet colleagues that the West retains its strategic interest in supporting the troubled Kabul government.
He told reporters: “I think we must be realistic about the power of Britain or any force that imposes a military solution-a combat solution-in Afghanistan.”
“What we can certainly do is to work with all our partners in the region and around the world who have common interests with us to prevent Afghanistan from becoming a breeding ground for terrorism again.
“What we must do now is not to turn away from Afghanistan,” he emphasized, adding that Britain can be “extremely proud” of its role in the country, especially in the promotion of girls’ education — the Taliban’s offensive is now jeopardizing these gains. .
The Prime Minister added that officials from the British Home Office are flying to Kabul to help Afghan interpreters serving in the British army apply for resettlement in the UK.
Many translators complained about the British procrastination and said that given the risk of Taliban retaliation, they are now worried about their lives.
Wallace said in Sky News earlier that Biden’s predecessor, Donald Trump, had reached a “bad agreement” with the Taliban to allow the United States to end its longest war. The heads of the party echoed each other.
Tom Tugendhat, chairman of the Special Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Commons, told the BBC: “We just removed the carpet from under them,” referring to the Afghan people.
The Conservative MP, a former reserve soldier who served in Afghanistan, added that Britain needs to send more troops to facilitate its withdrawal, which is “a clear sign of failure.”
Former Minister of International Development Rory Stewart called the withdrawal “a total betrayal of the United States and Britain” and may trigger a civil war between rival warlords currently fighting the Taliban.
Conservative MP and former Veterans Minister Johnny Mercer also served as an officer in Afghanistan, calling the withdrawal “a shame.”
“I think this is a shame for the British army and the families who lost individuals there, but most importantly, it is a huge tragedy for the Afghan people, who have experienced so much over the years,” he told Time Radio.
“We chose this failure, which is shameful.”
Doug Beatty, the leader of the Ulster Unity Party in Northern Ireland, has accompanied the British army on three tours in Afghanistan, and he said ordinary Afghans will pay the price for this.
“We have raised the expectations of the Afghan people that we will create better things for them,” he told the Irish national broadcaster RTE.
“And we will break it because of our inaction… We have committed a strategic failure, the last time we left Afghanistan as soon as possible without a political solution.”
bur-jit/phz/har
Agence France-Presse
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