Category Archives: Afghanistan

Open letter urges Boris Johnson to act on promise and evacuate Afghan journalists

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The Guardian and other UK media demand action for those who have helped report from Afghanistan

• UK media repeat call for evacuation of Afghan colleagues

Dear prime minister and foreign secretary,

When British media organisations wrote to you earlier this month about the grave Taliban threat to Afghan journalists and translators who had worked with us, you responded almost immediately. You recognised their vital contribution to a free press by reporting on the British mission in Afghanistan and promised colleagues at risk a path to safety. President Biden did the same in the United States.

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The Afghanistan debate showed that Boris Johnson’s flaws lead directly to tragedy | Zoe Williams

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For Starmer, the point was ‘what are the human consequences when power is held by someone so unfit?’

The initial shock of a packed House of Commons, recalled in recess for an emergency debate on Afghanistan, was how unfamiliar the packed green benches now look. Even before the pandemic, arguably since the prorogation of parliament, there’s been a question mark over the point of it all; does a debate have to end in a vote, in order to have meaning? Is it otherwise just theatre, and if so, what democratic purpose does it serve?

The answer used to be very simple: it was to test and challenge the policy of the executive. It may have been ritualistic, but the ritual was dense with significance, indicating that no prime minister had the power simply to announce, every one must persuade.

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Taliban face financial crisis without access to foreign reserves

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Analysis: As the US freezes Afghan reserves and Germany halts aid, the new rulers may find they are far short of what is required to govern

Afghanistan’s new Taliban rulers are likely to face a rapidly developing financial crisis, with foreign currency reserves largely unreachable and western aid donors – who fund the country’s institutions by about 75% – already cutting off or threatening to cut payments.

While the hardline Islamist group has moved in recent years to become more independent of outside financial supporters including Iran, Pakistan and wealthy donors in the Gulf, its financial flows – amounting to $1.6bn (£1.2bn) last year – are far short of what it will require to govern.

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Boris Johnson struggles to justify Afghanistan stance to hostile MPs

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Analysis: PM fails to make convincing defence of foreign policy amid criticism from across the Commons

Other leaders have had the luxury of being able to deliver an uninterrupted televised address. But Boris Johnson had to justify the ignominious retreat from Afghanistan in front of a testy, and at times hostile, House of Commons – dominated by critics from his own side asking if Britain could have been better prepared and if the collapse of the Kabul government could have been averted.

It was an occasion the UK prime minister struggled to rise to, not helped by the format that Downing Street had opted for: a general debate, which meant MPs were allowed to rise and seek to intervene as Johnson spoke, generating a crescendo of background noise after he had completed a line or two.

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Emotional wounds have been ‘torn open’, says Afghanistan veteran Tom Tugendhat MP – video

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In an impassioned Commons speech during the debate on Afghanistan, the Conservative MP speaks about the impact of the Taliban takeover on veterans. He criticises Joe Biden's assertion that the Afghan army did not adequately resist the Taliban

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‘I wouldn’t stay on holiday whilst Kabul was falling’: Starmer slams Johnson in Commons – video

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Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, has castigated the government over its reaction to events unfolding in Afghanistan, saying the prime minister's response to the Taliban 'arriving at the gates of Kabul' was 'to go on holiday', and that the foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, could not 'coordinate international response from the beach'. 

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‘Where is global Britain on streets of Kabul?’: Theresa May blasts UK failure in Afghanistan – video

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The former prime minister Theresa May has suggested her successor, Boris Johnson, had hoped 'on a wing and a prayer it’d be all right on the night' once the US and its allies had withdrawn from Afghanistan.

Johnson has faced anger from MPs about the UK’s failure to prepare for the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, as he made the case in parliament that Britain could not have stayed in the country 'without American might'

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What could Taliban rule mean for Afghanistan? – video explainer

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Afghanistan's government collapsed as the Taliban militant group took control of all of the country's major cities in only nine days, including Kabul, the capital of more than 4 million people.

The Guardian’s senior international correspondent Emma Graham-Harrison explains how the Taliban took control so quickly and what this could mean for the future of the country

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US says ‘we’re not taking their word for it’ on Taliban airport safety promise – video

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White House press secretary Jen Psaki says the Biden administration does not have complete faith in the Taliban promise to offer a safe passage to Kabul's international airport after their takeover of the country. 'We're not trusting, we're not taking their word for it,' Psaki says. 'We are watching closely.' Asked what the consequences of breaking the promise could be, Psaki says: 'The consequences are the full weight and force of the United States military, and I think we've made that clear'

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Women’s rights will be respected ‘within the limits of Islam’, say Taliban – video

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The Taliban said they wanted peaceful relations with other countries and would respect the rights of women 'within the limits of Islam', as they held their first press conference since seizing Kabul. During their rule between 1996 and 2001, the Taliban implemented their own strict interpretation of sharia law, preventing women from working and girls from going to school.

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Biden’s speech on Afghanistan was resolute, but lacked contrition or humility

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Analysis: The scenes of mayhem in Kabul have erupted in the public consciousness, and may damage the president’s reputation

It had just started raining at the White House on Monday when a group of reporters, the Guardian included, were summoned and led past a Secret Service agent, along a red carpet in a windowless corridor, up a staircase and into the elegantly appointed East Room.

Related: Afghanistan live news: Taliban say they seek no ‘revenge’ in press conference; vice-president says he is caretaker president

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After 20 years and $2tn spent in Afghanistan, what was it all for?

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Analysis: The stunning US defeat has left Afghans and Americans distraught and confused but some gains may not be easily erased

On 1 October 2001, three weeks after the 9/11 attacks and six days before the bombing of Afghanistan began, there was a small protest march in Washington.

The marchers wore badges saying “Don’t Turn Tragedy into War” and “Our Grief Is Not a Cry for War”, and argued that war was not the inevitable response to the terrorist outrage.

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‘There was never a good time’: was Biden’s Afghanistan speech fair or accurate?

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Analysis: US president’s TV address blamed others for the Taliban takeover and tried to distance himself from past administrations

In a televised speech on Monday, Joe Biden defended his decision to withdraw US forces from Afghanistan and his handling of a crisis that has seen the Taliban capture the country in a lightning offensive. Blaming Afghan politicians and the country’s security forces for the calamitous collapse, he also sought to distance himself from previous administrations. But how much of it was fair or even accurate?

Biden: We went to Afghanistan almost 20 years ago with clear goals: get those who attacked us on September 11, 2001, and make sure al-Qaida could not use Afghanistan as a base from which to attack us again. We did that. We severely degraded al-Qaida in Afghanistan. We never gave up the hunt for Osama bin Laden and we got him.

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Dominic Raab says no one predicted Taliban takeover of Afghanistan – video

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It was impossible to predict the Taliban would retake Afghanistan so swiftly after the withdrawal of international troops, Dominic Raab has said, arguing: ‘No one saw this coming.’

Speaking to the media following his return from holiday, after chaotic and deadly scenes at Kabul airport on Sunday, the UK foreign secretary said US and British troops had stabilised the airport, allowing evacuations to resume


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Evacuations continue in Afghanistan – in pictures

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Following the Taliban’s military takeover of the country, westerners continue to leave. Afghans hoping to escape Taliban rule have gathered in Kabul, with many making desperate attempts to flee. There was chaos at the airport, where troops used guns and helicopters to clear the runways, and several people died in frantic last-minute attempts to escape by clinging to departing planes

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How is UK planning to help resettle Afghan refugees?

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Ministers are expected to announce a ‘bespoke’ scheme similar to that put in place for Syrians in 2014

Ministers are expected to announce plans for a new settlement scheme in the UK for Afghan nationals following the Taliban takeover of the country. Similar to a scheme put in place for Syrians in 2014 amid the country’s civil war, this would be in addition to existing structures to assist some Afghan nationals.

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‘Chilling reports’: UN chief urges security council to act on Afghanistan – video

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United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres called on the security council to 'use all tools at its disposal to suppress the global terrorist threat in Afghanistan' and guarantee that basic human rights will be respected. Ashraf Ghani left Afghanistan on Sunday as the Taliban took over the country 20 years after they were ousted by a US-led invasion. 'We are receiving chilling reports of severe restrictions on human rights throughout the country,' said Guterres. 'I am particularly concerned by accounts of mounting human rights violations against the women and girls of Afghanistan'.

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‘Was it worth it?’: veterans of Afghan conflict reel at Taliban takeover

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Former soldiers express anger and heartbreak as service in 20-year war rendered ‘pointless’

As chaotic scenes unfolded more than 4,000 miles away in Kabul, veterans of the 20-year conflict and families who lost loved ones on the battlefield have been asking the stark question: “Was it worth it?”

“There is a generation of Afghans who have been given a taste of what freedom is like, so you never know, but it feels pretty bleak at the moment,” said Andrew Fox, a former major in the Parachute Regiment who served on three tours of Afghanistan and who has spoken openly about the impact of PTSD on his own health.

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The Taliban leaders in line to become de facto rulers of Afghanistan

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The task facing the new head of state will be more challenging than 1996. But who is in the running for a governing role?

Last time the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan – in 1996 – there was never any question of what form of government they would install and who would rule the country. They were filling a vacuum, and Mullah Mohammed Omar, the reclusive cleric who had led the movement since its beginnings two years earlier, took charge.

Then, Kabul was a shattered husk, with a tiny hungry, scared population, almost no economic activity, no telephones and public transport provided by ancient Russian-made cars or 1970s buses once driven from Germany. The Taliban could impose whatever they wanted.

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China will tread carefully in navigating the Taliban’s return

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Analysis: Difficult to predict how China will deal with its volatile neighbour, but Uyghur issue could prove contentious

The US’s hasty departure from Afghanistan has provided much material for China’s propaganda agencies to discredit Washington’s foreign policy. But Beijing is also treading a careful line in navigating an increasingly uncertain security situation in one of its most volatile neighbours.

On Monday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, Hua Chunying, said that while Beijing will “continue developing good-neighbourly, friendly and cooperative relations with Afghanistan”, it also urges the Taliban to “ensure that all kinds of terrorism and crimes can be curbed so that the Afghan people can stay away from war and rebuild their homeland”.

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