WASHINGTON – After 20 years, the United States is pulling its military out of Afghanistan. As NATO allies follow suit, United Kingdom Minister of Defense Ben Wallace revealed that the UK’s attempt to remain in the country was fruitless. As U.S. troops leave, the Taliban has quickly moved to capture seven provincial capitals with the Afghan government struggling to counter the extremist insurgent group.
Wallace told the Daily Mail that the U.K. sought “like-minded nations” to stay in the country despite U.S. withdrawal. He condemned the deal signed between the U.S. and the Taliban as “rotten,” and raised his concern that the Taliban’s insurgency will lead the U.K. to launch another military campaign “in ten or 20 years.”
“We tried a number of like-minded nations. Some said they were keen, but their parliaments weren’t. It became apparent pretty quickly that without the United States as the framework nation it had been, these options were closed off,” he said, when explaining why the U.K. steered away from unilateral action.
“We could have put a force there but we would have had to take ourselves out of a lot of other places around the world. The possibility… was not viable,” added Wallace.
The Taliban’s advance following the withdrawal of troops has resulted in the Islamist’s group sweeping across the country to take control of seven provincial capitals and large swaths of territory from government power as of Aug. 10. A BBC map of strongholds across the country shows the Taliban holding more territory than they have since 2001.
Wallace is not alone in the U.K. in voicing his opposition to the withdrawal. Former head of Britain’s Joint Forces Command Gen. Sir Richard Barrons voiced his concern about the withdrawal to BBC. The current head of the Armed Forces, Gen. Sir Nick Carter, urged the U.K. to stand “shoulder to shoulder” with Afghan forces.
According to a report from the Watson Institute of International and Public Affairs at Brown University, about 241,000 people have been killed as a direct result of the war, and more than 71,000 of those killed have been civilians. A UN report said that more civilians were killed in the first half of 2021 than any other in a six-month period during the war.
