Afghanistan live news UK MPs debate crisis as former Afghan president meets Taliban commander

The Netherlands managed to get 35 of its citizens out of Afghanistan on Wednesday in a slow start to its evacuation operation amid chaos outside Kabul airport, the defence minister Ank Bijleveld said.

The Dutch aim to evacuate 1,000 local embassy workers, translators and their families from Afghanistan following the seizure of the capital by Taliban insurgents.

An evacuation effort on Tuesday evening failed as a military plane operated by the Dutch and other nations left Kabul without anyone destined for the Netherlands aboard after US forces, struggling to control panicky crowds, denied Afghans access to the airport even if they had the correct credentials.

The situation seemed to have improved on Wednesday, Foreign Minister Sigrid Kaag said in a debate in Dutch parliament.

We still get mixed messages, but Afghans now also seem to be allowed to reach the gates of the airport. We will now try to get local staff, translators and their families on Western military planes as soon as possible. The US allows this.

The 35 Dutch were flown to Tbilisi in Georgia, along with 16 Belgians, two Germans and two British citizens on a Boeing C-17 plane operated jointly by Nato countries, Bijleveld said.

More than 2,200 diplomats and civilians have been evacuated from Afghanistan on military flights, a Western security official said on Wednesday.

Poland has evacuated around 50 people from Afghanistan, according to the country’s deputy foreign minister.

Reuters reports:

Poland said on Tuesday it had around 100 people on an evacuation list. It has pledged offer places on its planes to other people trying to leave Afghanistan from Kabul airport, where chaotic scenes have caused problems for some evacuation efforts.

“About 50 people were evacuated from Afghanistan, they are now safe in the care of the Polish consulate in Uzbekistan,” Marcin Przydacz told reporters. “A civilian plane is waiting for them that will soon transport them to Poland.”

Przydacz said that one Polish citizen was among those evacuated, while the others were people who had worked with the Polish military and diplomatic missions.

Poland is sending more planes to help evacuate people, he said.

A report from AFP details how Afghan refugees are making their way to Europe, bypassing a new wall along the border between Turkey and Iran.

The AFP reports:

The Afghans who make it this far spend days hiding from law enforcement and nights devising ways to get to big cities such as Izmir and Istanbul before finding smugglers to take them to Europe.

“I am coming from Kandahar. I have been on the road for 25 days,” said Mohammed Arif, 18, who paid $700 (£508) to a Turkish smuggler but was dropped off long before he could reach Istanbul.

The Taliban’s lightning offensive has revived memories in Europe of a 2015-16 refugee crisis that Turkey helped stop by sheltering millions of people in exchange for billions of dollars in aid.

The UN has recorded no “large-scale” moves across Afghan borders yet, and EU officials say the number of crossings into Europe by Afghans dropped by roughly 40% in the first six months of the year because of coronavirus-related border restrictions.

But young Afghans such as Arif give both EU nations and Turkey - where public opinion against migrants is turning - reasons to be concerned.

“If it hadn’t been for this misfortune, we wouldn’t have come here,” Arif said of the Taliban.

Sensing the nation’s mood, the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has vowed to put a “complete stop” to irregular migrant crossings.

A 243-kilometre (151-mile) concrete wall, topped with barbed wire and surrounded by trenches, is being erected along its 534-kilometre frontier with Iran. Turkish officials told AFP that 156 kilometres have already been built, greatly limiting migrant flows.

But security officials say in private that tens of thousands of Afghans are believed to be massing on the Iranian side.

Until 2013, Turkey resettled Afghans in third countries, mostly in Europe and refugee-friendly places such as Canada. That practice ended when EU member states declared Afghanistan safe because of the Nato presence.

In the emergency debate, Yvette Cooper, Labour MP for Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford, cited a harrowing testimony from a woman who worked on UK aid for three years, who has been hiding in Kabul.

“Only 3 weeks ago one of my neighbours told me he would tell them who I am and who my family is. A couple of days ago a strange man told me in the streets, ‘I know who you are and where you work.’

“I fear having my kids tortured before my eyes or having my skin peeled off while I am alive. We remain locked inside fearful of looking outside the window. Every time the door knocks fear goes through my body and I fear they are coming for me.”

The Help for Heroes charity is sharing tips for veterans from Afghanistan on looking after their wellbeing at a time when many will be struggling with feelings they haven’t been trained to cope with.

The tips include:

Acknowledge the situation and how you feel about it, even if the emotions are challenging.

Chat about how you’re feeling with someone you trust.

Practise self-care and put your wellbeing first.

Reach out for professional support if you need it.

Look out for those around you who might be struggling too.

The full list is available on Twitter.

Help for Heroes (@HelpforHeroes)

The news surrounding Afghanistan may be difficult for many of you & your loved ones.

Here's our advice to support your wellbeing at this time:

(1/5) pic.twitter.com/lIOyjniAzI

August 17, 2021

Britain should take the lead in paying reparations to rebuild Afghanistan, according to the Stop the War Coalition, which convened a gathering that was addressed outside parliament today by MPs including the former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

Today was a sombre one on which it was time to speak up for the vulnerable and learn the mistakes of foreign policy, he told the event, which took place as MPs prepared to gather for an emergency sitting of parliament to discuss the unfolding crisis in Afghanistan.

“There are two priorities today - the first is absolutely to support those trying to get out of Afghanistan, those who are at risk, those who have worked for the occupying forces, those that have worked for the government, those that have worked as contractors employed by the government and those particularly prominent women in society who are obviously very vulnerable and at very serious risk,” he said.

“Then, there has to be a realisation of what the foreign policy initiatives actually end up doing: costing us a great deal of money, costing us lives and not leading to the outcome they were predicted to do at the time.”

Corbyn was joined by other Labour MPs including Zarah Sultana, who said that more than 240,000 people had died as a result of the Afghan conflict and an entire region faced decades of instability. “Here we are again making those same arguments that you cannot bomb a country into democracy,” she added.

Richard Burgon, another MP who attended, said on Twitter: “The crisis in Afghanistan is the result of 20 years of disastrous military intervention. Just as in Iraq & Libya, backing US-led invasions led to a huge loss of life.

“There is no military solution in Afghanistan. The focus now should be on reparations and supporting refugees.”

A spokesman for Boris Johnson is answering questions on Afghanistan from reporters.

Reuters reported that when asked about whether Britain hoped to take 1,000 people out of Afghanistan a day, the spokesman told reporters they were “aiming to operate at that capacity”.

According to PA, Downing Street would not be drawn on whether the UK would recognise any government formed by the Taliban in Afghanistan. The prime minister’s official spokesman said any decision would need a “unified approach” internationally. “We’ll have to see what unfolds,” he said.

The spokesman also said that increased humanitarian aid for Afghanistan, which will be doubled to £286m, would not be handed to the Taliban, but would instead be distributed in conjunction with the UN and other NGOs (non-governmental organisations).

The spokesman said that the British embassy in Afghanistan “effectively has relocated to the airport” in Kabul, with the building currently unoccupied. The Foreign Office’s rapid deployment team had now arrived in the country and was “working on the ground, alongside the ambassador and others”.

He said: “There’s no plans to shut that, indeed there’s important work going on currently to bring back British nationals.”

Asked whether the surprise at the speed of the Taliban’s advance was a failure of UK intelligence, No 10 said the pace had “taken everyone internationally by surprise”.

Downing Street alos said that the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) could increase from 5,000 to 10,000, since the scheme is not a “capped” offer.

The spokesman said: “The prime minister has said we owe a debt to those Afghan nationals that have helped Britain over the last 20 years and we intend to honour them.”

In the Commons debate, Diane Abbott, MP for Hackney North, shared powerful quotes from a veteran, warning that abandoning Afghanistan equated to letting down those who fought, sustained injuries and died in the country over the past 20 years.

She said:

“One of the questions we have to address today and in days to come is how did it happen and what lessons are to be learned?

“We cannot let down the British veterans who over 20 years fought in Afghanistan particularly in Helmand, one of the most dangerous provinces. I can do no better than quote Jack Cummings, a former British soldier, who lost both legs on 14 August 2010 searching for improvised explosive devices in Afghanistan.

“He said a few simple sentences worth repeating: ‘Was it worth it?’ He replied to his own question: ‘Probably not.’ He asked: “Did I lose my legs for nothing?” And he replied to his own question: ‘Looks like it.’ Finally he said: ‘Did my mates die in vain?’ And he replied to his own question: ‘Yep.’

“We as a House of Commons and as a parliament should not, cannot, let down Jack Cummings and those 457 British soldiers that died in Afghanistan.”

Switzerland will not accept large groups of Afghan refugees arriving directly from the country, but instead will review asylum applications on a case-by-case basis.

Reuters reports:

Humanitarian visas will be considered for people facing an “immediate, concrete, serious and directly life-threatening threat”, the government said, as it worked to evacuate local workers who aided the Swiss development office in Kabul.

Applicants for visa must also have a close and current connection to Switzerland, it added.

“Belonging to a possibly endangered group is not sufficient,” the government said.

The European Union has a responsibility to accept Afghan refugees and cannot leave people who worked for the bloc in Afghanistan to “face revenge”, according to the European parliament president, David Sassoli, who asked that refugees be distributed evenly among member states.

Reuters reports:

“We must protect those who worked and cooperated with us, we cannot allow them to be left to face revenge,” Sassoli, an Italian, told reporters during a visit to the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius.

“We have a responsibility. I think that European Commission can authorise even distribution of them among the member states to keep a parity, and this can be done quickly.”

Britain has helped more than 2,000 Afghans to flee the country in recent days, according to the prime minister, Boris Johnson.

According to AFP’s report of this morning’s emergency debate, which saw MPs called back to parliament from their summer holidays, Johnson said Britain had so far secured the safe return of 306 British nationals and 2,052 Afghan nationals as part of its resettlement programme, while 2,000 more Afghan applications were complete and “many more” were being processed.

“UK officials are working round the clock to keep the exit door open in the most difficult circumstances and actively seeking those we believe are eligible but as yet unregistered,” Johnson said.

Rachel Hall here taking over from Kevin Rawlinson - do email over any tips to rachel.hall@theguardian.com.

In London, the Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat, a former soldier who served in Afghanistan, was applauded following an emotive Commons speech. He recalled the efforts of the military, aid workers, journalists and others who worked in the country, before noting:

I know that we’ve all been struggling and if this recall has done one thing ... I’ve spoken to the health secretary, he’s already made a commitment to do more for veterans’ mental health.

Tugendhat said it was with “great sadness” that he was to criticise the US, noting:

To see their commander in chief call into the question the courage of men I fought with, to claim that they ran is shameful. Those who have not fought for the colours they fly should be careful about criticising those who have.

Tugendhat suggested the west and the UK had not shown patience, adding:

This is a harsh lesson for all of us and if we’re not careful it could be a very, very difficult lesson for our allies.

It doesn’t need to be. We can set out a vision, clearly articulate it, for reinvigorating our European Nato partners, to make sure that we are not dependent on a single ally, on the decision of a single leader, that that we can work together with Japan and Australia, France and Germany, with partners large and small and make sure we hold the line together.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has reaffirmed its commitment to staying in Afghanistan to help with critical health services. Dr Ahmed Al-Mandhari, its regional director for the eastern Mediterranean, said:

Sustained access to humanitarian assistance, including essential health services and medical supplies, is a critical lifeline for millions of Afghans, and must not be interrupted. Months of violence have taken a heavy toll on Afghanistan’s fragile health system, which had already been facing shortages in essential supplies amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

As a result of the recent conflict, trauma injuries have increased, requiring scaled up emergency medical and surgical services. In July 2021, some 13 897 conflict-related trauma cases were received at 70 WHO-supported health facilities, compared to 4057 cases in July 2020.

He added:

In areas where people have fled to seek safety and shelter, including Kabul and other large cities, field reports indicate that there are increasing cases of diarrhoea, malnutrition, high blood pressure, Covid-19-like symptoms and reproductive health complications.

Delays and disruptions to health care will increase the risk of disease outbreaks and prevent some of the most vulnerable groups from seeking life-saving health care. There is an immediate need to ensure continuity of health services across the country, with a focus on ensuring women have access to female health workers.

The US withdrawal from Afghanistan underscores the need for South Korea to quickly secure wartime operational control of its troops from the United States, Reuters quotes a leader of the East Asian nation’s ruling Democratic party as saying.

The defeat of the Afghan government after the withdrawal of US forces has sparked debate over the strength of American commitments in places such as Taiwan and South Korea.

Since the 1950-1953 Korean War, the American military has retained authority to control hundreds of thousands of South Korean forces alongside the roughly 28,500 US troops in the country if another war breaks out.

The South Korean president, Moon Jae-in, has made obtaining operational control â€" termed Opcon â€" of those joint forces a major goal of his administration, but delays over the Covid-19 pandemic and other issues, appear to have made that impossible in its remaining term. Song Young-gil, the chief of Moon’s Democratic party, said:

We have to take the Afghanistan crisis as a chance to strengthen self-defence capability through Opcon transfer.

The South Korea-US alliance was necessary to not just counter North Korea but to maintain the balance of power and peace in north-east Asia, Song said.

But we also need to have the attitude to foster cooperative self-defence, that we defend our country ourselves, which is why we have to take over wartime Opcon transfer as soon as possible.

May also highlighted her fears for women and girls in Afghanistan under Taliban rule.

Those girls who have been educated will have no opportunity to use that education.

The Taliban proclaim that women will be allowed to work and girls allowed to go to school but this will be under Islamic law â€" or rather their interpretation of Islamic law â€" and we have seen before what that means for the lives of women and girls.

She warned of the potential humanitarian crisis, adding:

Now, of course, we cut our international aid budget but I’m pleased that the foreign secretary has told me that more funding is going to be made available to deal with this crisis.

On the security risk, she said:

We must be deeply concerned about the possible impact here in the UK. The aim of our involvement in Afghanistan was to ensure that it could not be used as a haven for terrorists. Terrorists who could train, plot and encourage attacks here in the UK.

Al Qada has not gone away, Daesh (also known as the so-called Islamic State) may have lost their ground in Syria, but these terrorist groups remain and they have spawned others. We will not defeat them until we have defeated the ideology which feeds their extremism.

She added:

All of our military personnel, all who served in Afghanistan should hold their heads high and be proud of what they achieved in that country over 20 years, of the change of lives they brought to the people of Afghanistan and the safety they brought here to the UK.

The politicians sent them there, the politicians decided to withdraw, the politicians must be responsible for the consequences.

In the UK, the Conservative former prime minister Theresa May suggested her successor and party colleague Boris Johnson had hoped “on a wing and a prayer it’d be all right on the night” once the United States and its allies had withdrawn from Afghanistan.

Of course, the Nato presence was always going to end at some point in time. But the withdrawal when it came was due to be orderly, planned and on the basis of conditions. It has been none of these.

What has been most shocking has been the chaos and speed of the takeover by the Taliban.

In July this year, both President Biden and the prime minister indicated that they did not think the Taliban was ready or able to take over control of the country.

Was our intelligence really so poor? Was our understanding of the Afghan government so weak? Was our knowledge of the position on the ground so inadequate? Or did we really believe this? Or did we feel we just had to follow the United States and hope that on a wing and a prayer it’d be all right on the night?

Because the reality is that as long as this time limit was given and dates given for withdrawal, all the Taliban had to do was to ensure there were sufficient problems for the Afghan government not to be able to have full control of the country and then just sit and wait.

In Westminster, dozens of demonstrators have gathered at Parliament Square to protest over how the government has handled supporting citizens in Afghanistan after the Taliban launched a takeover of the country.

The protesters, who are former translators for the British Army, held banners and signs up in front of parliament as MPs returned to the House of Commons.

Signs they held included images of people gravely injured in Afghanistan, with the caption “Protect our loved ones”. One former interpreter, who gave his name only as Rafi, told the PA news agency:

Today, we are representing all those employees of the British government in Afghanistan who have served the British forces.

Today, their lives are at a very high risk, them and their families, and our families, they need protection and safety. The Taliban will butcher every single one of them if they are left behind.

The Afghan nation feels betrayed and let down. They deserved better. The Americans took the rug from under our feet and left the nation with no protection, no safety and under the control of the same terrorists that we started fighting 20 years ago.

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