Danger tourism, is it right that the government has to intervene?

There is footage of him allegedly being shown how to use a gun by the Taliban.

If true and he is brought back, then so should Shamima Begum be allowed to return.
He's an idiot.

One of the other men is a charity medical worker and every effort should be made to bring him home.

Young people do the craziest things, like the ones climbing tall towers or buildings, hanging over cliff edges for photos etc. All are putting themselves in extreme danger and will have to be airlifted to hospital if they have an accident (although they are more likely to be killed to be honest). Then there are skiers and mountain climbers, ditto to them.

So is this person any different? They put themselves in deliberate danger, just like all the others. Surely if they need help or medical assistance then they are just as deserving of help as all the other adrenaline junkies, and should be rescued. If not, what makes them any different from the others?

It's like those lone sailors who get into trouble and then cost strangers thousands, put others in danger and expect to be to rescued. I would be giving them low priority. Fine if there is no one else needing help at the time but otherwise- no.

There are many fools that put themselves in danger, ignoring safety advice, swimming in dangerous conditions, mountain climbing without preparation, many other risks are taken. The emergency services do their best to rescue them, overseas is no different, but don’t expect quick successful help in hostile countries.

I had this discussion with myself about 20 years ago. I concluded that the numbers involved were so tiny, and as others have said, there are other sorts of dangerous behaviour too.

Intervening to help someone captured by the Taliban will put the negotiators at possible risk, and doubtless countless concessions will have to be made to free this dangerous idiot. People indulging in dangerous sport can also put their rescuers at risk, but they are usually charged for their services, I believe, and if they are not, they should be.

Callistemon21

There is footage of him allegedly being shown how to use a gun by the Taliban.

If true and he is brought back, then so should Shamima Begum be allowed to return.
He's an idiot.

One of the other men is a charity medical worker and every effort should be made to bring him home.

Not on a par with Begum, a known Isis supporter and lover of beheading, who is trying on the poor me act, thankfully failed.
She was rather more than an idiot tourist. All should be brought back, only a fool goes to work, visit Afghanistan. Tourist should be hit with full cost of repatriation.

Do it once, then the tourist should be given a dressing down and warning by the Foreign Office that if they do it again the Foreign Office will be less enthusiastic about rescuing them.

Lone sailors, mountain climbers etc, are usually adepts at their sport, go well prepared, well equipped and, while the dramatic rescues catch the news, in comparison with the many sailors, for example, who sail the oceans, alone or with a few others, the proportion that get into trouble, usually as the result of exceptional events, is very few indeed.

Deliberately seeking danger, is something very different.

Def leave him to the Taliban.
A total moron.

They should be rescued if possible and then made to pay the cost. If they do it again they are on their own.
It's a bit like the walkers who decided to take dangerous routes up mountains in Britain badly equipped, if equipped at all they should be made to pay the cost of their rescues when rescuers have put their own lives at risk to do so.
Someone I used to know did a very silly thing and had to be rescued their relatives made them make a considerable donation to the volunteers who looked after them.

Freya5

Callistemon21

There is footage of him allegedly being shown how to use a gun by the Taliban.

If true and he is brought back, then so should Shamima Begum be allowed to return.
He's an idiot.

One of the other men is a charity medical worker and every effort should be made to bring him home.

Not on a par with Begum, a known Isis supporter and lover of beheading, who is trying on the poor me act, thankfully failed.
She was rather more than an idiot tourist. All should be brought back, only a fool goes to work, visit Afghanistan. Tourist should be hit with full cost of repatriation.

It is not the first time he has done this; he had to be rescued previously from the Talibsn in Kabul. Then from Ukraine.
From photos in the press, he looks to be quite happy with the Taliban.

Last year, he said: "I'd say I wish them [the critics] all the best but truthfully they were never my audience and for every seething comment made against me, behind it was my friends and I eating popcorn and laughing at them. I'll continue to travel regardless of their opinions.

"I'll even go back to Afghanistan and there's nothing they can do about it."

If someone has gone to help others in a country in turmoil and gets into difficulties that is different and I believe efforts should be made to get them released.

Miles Routledge can go to these places if he wishes but I don't expect anyone to put themselves in danger or to any expense to rescue him.

He seems to be doing it for a social media career, I would say leave him wherever he is. There are aid workers that often need help to leave a country, use the resources for them not this idiot.

Leave him there. People who do stupid self-inflicted things need to take responsibility if there are bad consequences. Including financial repercussions if there is a cost to their rescuers. RNLI springs to mind here especially. Every year they save hundreds of lives, many of whom have put themselves in peril. I don’t think it’s too much to ask people to contribute to their rescue especially when there are people putting their lives at risk to save them.

Last year, he said: "I'd say I wish them [the critics] all the best but truthfully they were never my audience and for every seething comment made against me, behind it was my friends and I eating popcorn and laughing at them. I'll continue to travel regardless of their opinions.

"I'll even go back to Afghanistan and there's nothing they can do about it."

He comes across as a very arrogant person to me, maybe egged on by his friends.

My vote would be to save ourselves the trouble and leave him where he obviously wants to be.
I'm just imagining someone dying while trying to rescue him, and for what?

Rescue him and remove his passport until he’s paid back the cost.

If someone is going into a situation well prepared/equipped and has an accident or gets into a difficult situation, I'd hope that they receive the appropriate help and support.
Otherwise I'm of the opinion that they should be charged for the 'rescue'.
It's a different situation entirely but in the North East, we have regular occurrences of people visiting Holy Island and ignoring the crossing times or thinking they can beat the tide and the RNLI have to rescue them... usually with children in tow!! It infuriates me.

People indulging in dangerous sports and pastimes like pot holing, climbing towers etc should be billed for any public money that is spent rescuing them and treating their injuries if they dont have appropriate insurance.

Jaxjacky

Rescue him and remove his passport until he’s paid back the cost.

I agree Jaxjacky

The man is a fool why should the government try and get him back