When Taliban took over Kabul, senior leaders of UK Foreign office were on holiday: Report
Zee News
In a report titled "Missing in action: UK leadership and the withdrawal from Afghanistan", the House of Commons Committee identified systemic failures of intelligence, diplomacy, planning and preparation--many of which were due, at least in part, to the Foreign Office and call into question the coordination that the National Security Council provided."
London: Nine months after the western countries withdrew their forces from Afghanistan, a UK Parliamentary committee has found out that the manner of withdrawal from Afghanistan was a disaster and a betrayal of allies that will damage the country`s interests for years to come. The Taliban took over Afghanistan in mid-August, which led to the collapse of the previous government and mass evacuations from the Kabul airport.
As crowds gathered at the airport, the area was hit by terrorist attacks, leading to hundreds of casualties. Subsequently, western countries, including US and UK, faced a great deal of criticism for the pace and manner with which they withdrew from the country.
In a report titled "Missing in action: UK leadership and the withdrawal from Afghanistan", the House of Commons Committee identified systemic failures of intelligence, diplomacy, planning and preparation--many of which were due, at least in part, to the Foreign Office and call into question the coordination that the National Security Council provided."
The UK Government failed adequately to shape or respond to Washington`s decision to withdraw, to predict the speed of the Taliban`s takeover, or to plan and prepare for the evacuation of our Afghan partners. It might be convenient to blame FCDO officials or military intelligence for these failures, but ministers should have been driving this policy," the report said.
The fact that the UK Foreign Office`s senior leaders were on holiday when Kabul fell marks a fundamental lack of seriousness, grip or leadership at a time of national emergency, the report added. At several key stages in the evacuation there seemed to be no clear line of command within the political leadership of the government, as decisions were made on the basis of untraceable and unaccountable political interventions.
