THE GUARDIAN: Ben Wallace says he is ‘absolutely concerned’ about terrorism threat, contradicting Biden analysis
Joe Biden’s decision to rapidly withdraw from Afghanistan is threatening to turn into one of the biggest Anglo-American foreign policy rifts in decades, with potentially dangerous political consequences if the UK government’s warnings about a return of terrorism and mass movement of refugees to Europe eventually prove correct.
Ben Wallace, the UK defence secretary, revealed in remarkably frank interviews on Friday that the UK was so aghast at the US decision to withdraw completely from Afghanistan next month that it had canvassed other Nato allies to see if there was support for a reconfigured alliance to continue the stabilisation force in Afghanistan without the US.
The Taliban continued its lightning advance on Friday, seizing four more provincial capitals and gaining control of more than two-thirds of country as its forces headed towards Kabul. Kandahar and Herat, the country’s second and third biggest cities, fell on Thursday.
Biden said as recently as July that there was no chance the Taliban would overrun the country, and denied that Afghanistan still represented a breeding ground for terrorism. Wallace and the chief of the UK defence staff, Gen Sir Nick Carter, have directly contradicted Biden’s analysis and even said it may prove necessary to go back into the country. » | Patrick Wintour, Diplomatic editor | Friday, August 13, 2021
Whatever happens next in Afghanistan, a humanitarian disaster is already in train: Even before the western withdrawal and Taliban resurgence, the country was on its knees. A refugee crisis is now inevitable »
