UK troops withdrawal from Afghanistan is Britain's biggest foreign policy disaster

UK troops withdrawal from Afghanistan is Britain's biggest foreign policy disaster
August 16, 2021, 2:35 am

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According to the BBC, the chairman of the UK Foreign Affairs Committee has said the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan is Britain's biggest foreign policy disaster since the Suez crisis of 1956. UK troops

The British broadcast corporation reported that Tory MP Tom Tugendhat criticised the foreign secretary for not making any statement as the Taliban advanced across the country in the last week.

Mr Tugendhat said the UK has "abandoned the Afghan people".

It should be noted that Taliban took almost every major city and reached the edges of the capital Kabul.

The BBC said, the Mp's statement comes as Prime Minister Boris Johnson called a meeting of the emergency Cobra committee on Sunday afternoon, and the Speaker's Office said Parliament will be recalled on Wednesday for one day to discuss the situation in Afghanistan.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said he had shared his "deep concerns about the future for Afghanistan" with Pakistan's foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi.

He said they agreed "it is critical that the international community is united in telling the Taliban that the violence must end and human rights must be protected".

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said: "The government has been silent as Afghanistan collapses, which will have ramifications in the UK."

He said it was a "very sad day" and "our thoughts are with the Afghan people". The government's priority "must be to evacuate British personnel and support staff", he added.

Malala Yousafzai, the Nobel Peace Prize winner who found refuge in the UK after being shot in the head by Taliban militants in 2012, said global and regional powers must call for an immediate ceasefire, provide humanitarian aid and protect refugees.

"We watch in complete shock as Taliban takes control of Afghanistan. I am deeply worried about women, minorities and human rights advocates," she said.

Mr Tugendhat compared the Afghanistan withdrawal to the UK's failed invasion of Egypt in 1956, intended to regain control of the Suez canal, which is seen by many historians as marking the end of Britain's role as a major world power.

"We haven't heard from the foreign secretary in about a week, despite this being the biggest single foreign policy disaster since Suez, so I don't know what the Foreign Office is thinking," he told the BBC.

He said the pull-out in Afghanistan showed a lack of "strategic patience", stripped the Afghan army of their logistics and air support and "convinced them there was no tomorrow".

That emboldened Taliban militants, allowing them to sweep through many major cities, he suggested.

It should be noted that the Foreign Office has advised more than 4,000 British citizens thought to be in Afghanistan to leave and on Thursday said it would send 600 troops to help with the departure of Britons, Afghan staff and interpreters.

Source: BBC

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