Missing in action: UK leadership withdrawal from Afghanistan

Mentioned on R4 this morning.

Quite dreadful.

James O'Brien had a soldier (or ex-soldier) phone in on this issue this morning and he was in tears describing his feelings about the west's abandonment of Afghanistan.

There will probably be a podcast on Global Player and elsewhere soon. It is worth listening to.

Rameses

James O'Brien had a soldier (or ex-soldier) phone in on this issue this morning and he was in tears describing his feelings about the west's abandonment of Afghanistan.

There will probably be a podcast on Global Player and elsewhere soon. It is worth listening to.

I was listening this morning. I found it distressing to listen to.

We let down the Afghan people so badly.

It said on tv just now that Johnson was on holiday at the time, too. I believe that France started to get people out of the country months before. People that worked as interpreters etc fir us were just left there try to escape from the Taliban.

Did anyone actually think the Afghanistan withdrawal would n'o be a shambles with this government in charge?

I have written to my (Conservative) MP a number of times over the last 5-10 years about the plight of Afghani interpretors and other staff working for the British in Afghaniston. I have never had a reply beyond the bounce back acknowledgement, to any of my emails.

I bet Tom Tugendhat doesn't get invites to the inner circle's parties!

The mutual loathing between Tugendhat and Johnson is no secret. In any other government, Tugendhat would be Foreign Minister or Defence Secretary. That said, I do have some concerns about him. His seems thick with Gove and is pro-nuclear. I do like that he wants to get tough on social media regulation.

I was watching Parliament Live this morning - the committee hearing evidence for the Online Safety Bill. Andy Burrows, Head of Child Safety, NSPCC was telling some very frightening stories about how Facebook algorithms easily enable paedophile rings to collect images and circulate them around the world in a matter of hours. Never post any images of your grandchildren on FB however much you think you and they are protected by privacy settings. Zuckerberg has a lot to answer for.

I don't think Tugendhat is any knight in shining armour and I don't agree with much of what he says (he's a Conservative after all ) - my point was that at least he doesn't toady to Johnson, unlike Truss, Shapps and many others.

As usual warfare does not go according to plan, with hindsight we shouldn’t have been there, as with Iraq, Libya and Syria deposing a despot only means another despot replaces him, and many civilian lives are made worse.

Catherine West speaking in the House on this. Parliament Live from 10:51 if you need to catch up. James Cleverly trying to defend. Tom Tugendhat up now.

TT ... An erosion of trust. Enemies do not fear us. Allies do not trust us.

growstuff

I don't think Tugendhat is any knight in shining armour and I don't agree with much of what he says (he's a Conservative after all ) - my point was that at least he doesn't toady to Johnson, unlike Truss, Shapps and many others.

I agree. He really went up in my estimation when he spoke out about Afghanistan but then I saw a picture of him happily dancing away at one party do ( not to do with partygate I might add) and realised his voting record on other things was that of a typical Conservative MP.

I agree Maybee70. That was Tugendhat and Gove at the Conservative Party Conference. He supported Gove in the last leadership contest and that worries me. I'd rather not have a Tory government full stop but given a choice between Tugendhat and Johnson ...

Dave Doogan SNP Angus reminded the House that 1:4 people crossing the channel in Q1 2022 were Afghanis refugees left behind in the botched evacuation and called for a dial down of the government's vilification of migrants.