Foreign News
Blair describes the US Withdrawal from Afghanistan as Terrible and Pointless.
Blair describes the US Withdrawal from Afghanistan as Terrible and Pointless.
Blair describes the US Withdrawal from Afghanistan as Terrible and Pointless.
Blair describes the US withdrawal from Afghanistan as terrible and pointless.
Since the Taliban took Kabul last Sunday, former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair called the US pullout from Afghanistan “tragic, dangerous, and unnecessary.” News report gathered.
“In adherence to an imbecilic mantra about stopping ‘the eternal wars,'” he continued, the choice was made.
Following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Mr Blair spearheaded the UK invasion of Iraq alongside the US.
Jihadist groups would “celebrate” the withdrawal of allied soldiers, he added.
Mr Blair also stated that the United Kingdom had a “moral commitment” to remain in Afghanistan until “all those who need to be evacuated have been evacuated.”
“We must evacuate and give refuge to those to whom we have responsibility – those Afghans who aided us and stood by us and have a right to demand we stand by them,” the former Labour leader said on his website.
He went on to say that this should be done “not reluctantly, but with a genuine sense of humanity and duty.”
Mr Blair claimed that the decision to leave Afghanistan was motivated by politics, and he spoke of ending “the endless wars,” a phrase coined by US Vice President Joe Biden during his election campaign.
“It wasn’t necessary for us to do so. We made the decision to do it “he penned
“We did it because of an idiotic political slogan about ending ‘forever wars,’ as if our commitment in 2021 was even remotely comparable to our commitment 20 or even 10 years ago, and in circumstances where troop numbers had dropped to a bare minimum and no allied soldier had died in combat for 18 months.”
The US has set a withdrawal deadline of 31 August, although President Biden has stated that troops may stay longer to assist with evacuations.
Mr Blair acknowledged that mistakes had been made in Afghanistan, but added that “the reaction to our mistakes has unfortunately resulted in further blunders.” He claimed that, while “imperfect,” the “actual gains of the last 20 years” were likely to be lost today.
The withdrawal would have “every jihadist group around the world cheering”, he said.
Russia, China and Iran will take advantage, he added. “Anyone given commitments by Western leaders will understandably regard them as unstable currency.”
President Biden has vowed that “any American who wants to come home, we will get you home”, but has described the evacuation as one of the “most difficult airlifts in history”.
Mr Blair’s article comes as shadow foreign secretary Lisa Nandy has urged her government counterpart Dominic Raab to step up efforts to get British and eligible Afghans to the UK.
She said she had heard of people being beaten, shot at or raped while trying to get documentation in Kabul.
The Foreign Office said it was trying to get people out as fast as possible, with more than 3,000 people having been evacuated from the country since Sunday.
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said, in an article in the Mail on Sunday, the West’s exit from Afghanistan was “unedifying” and would have “consequences for us all for years to come”.
He said there was “no time to lose” to get people out of the country but added the US would have his complete support if it chose to push back the deadline for leaving.
