Afghanistan crisis RECAP What is happening in Afghanistan today | Joe Biden speech reaction | Dominic Raab defends UK Government
Follow along here.
Afghanistan crisis RECAP: Latest news and updates
Key Events
- ‘Women’s rights very important under our rule', claims Taliban
- Britain did not see Taliban takeover coming, Foreign Secretary says
- PM to unveil plan to let vulnerable Afghans set up home in UK
- Prince Harry encourages veterans to ‘support one another’ amid Taliban takeover
- Prime Minister Boris Johnson will chair a Cobra meeting on Monday afternoon to discuss the ongoing situation in Afghanistan, No 10 has confirmed.
The leader of the Labour Party has said preventing Afghanistan from becoming a “terrorist state” is the right course of action, but “setting the bar very, very low”.
Sir Keir Starmer said: “We have got to safeguard the gains of the last 20 years and the huge sacrifice that went behind those gains.
“And I heard the Prime Minister yesterday saying that he doesn’t want Afghanistan to slip back to a terrorist state. Of course, nobody wants that, but that is setting the bar very, very low.
“For women and girls and others in Afghanistan it’s very important that we have a political process that safeguards the gains that have been made and asserts the human rights of everybody in Afghanistan.”
He said “there needs to be a political process, that shouldn’t include recognition, the Prime Minister is right about that”.
On efforts to relocate Afghans who helped the UK, Sir Keir Starmer said: “We need to get UK nationals out, but we also have an obligation to all of those Afghans who helped and assisted the UK, and we shouldn’t have nice distinctions between this type of person, this type of help, and that type of help.
“If those in Afghan have helped us, the UK, in our work in Afghanistan, we have got an obligation to them.”
He said on the longer and medium-term there needs to be “safe and legal routes for refugees”.
Sir Keir Starmer has said there was a “catastrophic miscalculation” over the strength of the Taliban and the resilience of Afghan forces.
Speaking with the PA news agency on a trip to Wolverhampton, and asked if President Biden should have slowed or halted the American withdrawal in Afghanistan, the Labour leader said: “I think there was a catastrophic miscalculation of, on the one hand the strength of the Taliban and the resilience of the Afghan forces.
“And I think anybody looking at this would say the timing of this decision to withdraw – nobody wants troops in Afghanistan indefinitely – but the timing of this withdrawal and what has happened and the unravelling of 20 years of progress in a matter of weeks and days, I think everybody is saddened by that and can see the tragedy that lies behind this.”
My son did not die in vain, says mother of Royal Marine killed in Afghanistan
The mother of a Royal Marine killed in Afghanistan has said her son “did not die in vain” as he helped make the country a better place before the return of the Taliban.
Corporal Danny Winter, 28, was killed along with Captain Tom Sawyer, 26, of the Royal Artillery, in Gereshk, central Helmand, on January 14 2009.
Cpl Winter’s mother, Carolyn Hughes, wrote on his Facebook memorial page: “Danny and all the armed forces of the country’s involved made a huge difference to a wild, war torn country.
“Because of them, terrorist attacks on our country was avoided and countless lives were saved.
“The women of Afghanistan were safe to walk the street and get an education, something that had always previously been denied.
“People were happy and felt safe.”
Third Cobra meeting called in space of four days over Afghanistan crisis
Boris Johnson will chair a third Cobra meeting over the worsening situation in Afghanistan as No 10 pledged to continue to evacuate people from the country for as long as it is safe to do so.
The Prime Minister will hold a third Cobra meeting in four days on Monday afternoon as a desperate struggle to get UK nationals and local allies out of the country continues.
His official spokesman said the UK will continue the evacuation effort for “as long as we are able to do so and as long as it is safe to do so”.
But Defence Secretary Ben Wallace, who served in the Scots Guards, appeared to choke up as he spoke of his regret that “some people won’t get back”.
Speaking on LBC, Mr Wallace said: “It’s a really deep part of regret for me… look, some people won’t get back. Some people won’t get back and we will have to do our best in third countries to process those people.”
Asked why he felt the situation “so personally”, Mr Wallace replied: “Because I’m a soldier… because it’s sad and the West has done what it’s done, we have to do our very best to get people out and stand by our obligations and 20 years of sacrifice is what it is.”
British troops are racing against the clock to get people out of Afghanistan following the dramatic fall of the Western-backed government amid a rapid advance across the country by the Taliban.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said there would be “significant numbers flying out day-by-day” from Afghanistan as the rush to evacuate British nationals and local allies from the country continued.
The spokesman said he could not put a number on how many British citizens were still in the country, but he added: “Well, we have reinforced our capabilities with 600 military personnel who are there to facilitate the removal of people with UK visas and British nationals.”
He said the British ambassador, Sir Laurie Bristow, was working from the airport in Kabul alongside Home Office staff, diplomatic workers, and the armed services, to process visas.
And he said: “There are people on the ground who can consider visa applications and there are some rules as regards to those who have family members who can be considered, I think, on a case-by-case basis but we have already removed a large number of Afghan nationals under the ARAP (Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy) scheme and we’ll continue to do so.”
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy was “open-ended”.
He told a Westminster briefing: “We will continue to do everything we can, our offer is open-ended, we haven’t put an end date on that and we will continue to do all we can including – as the Defence Secretary said – should individuals manage to get to other countries and be brought in from those other countries.”
He said it was a “fluid situation” but that military personnel were ensuring “people can leave safely at the moment”.
He said: “We want to obviously continue to do this as long as we are able to do so and as long as it is safe to do so. You’ll appreciate the US have said that they will be leaving at the end of the month so we will keep that under review and we’ll continue to do it as long as we can do so because we want to get as many people out as we can.”
No 10 has said it would do “everything we can” to get 35 Afghan students who had planned to take up prestigious British scholarships into the UK.
The recipients of the Chevening scholarships were previously told their visas could not be processed and therefore their scholarships would be deferred for a year.
But amid fears the award would make them targets for the Taliban, Boris Johnson intervened on Sunday.
On Monday, his official spokesman said: “I think what is right is that we do everything we can to get these people who have secured these scholarships over to the UK.”
Key dates in UK’s involvement in 20-year Afghan conflict
Some 456 British personnel lost their lives in Afghanistan and the Government has spent more than £22 billion on the 20-year conflict.
Now, with the Taliban on the verge of taking full control of the country, the speed of the capitulation of the Afghan security forces has taken even the most pessimistic commentators by surprise.
Here is a timeline of the UK’s involvement in a war that has left Britons asking themselves “What was it all for?”
– 2001
– September 11 2001: The 9/11 terror attacks against the US claim the lives of 2,977 victims.
Suspicion immediately falls upon Islamist terrorist group al Qaida and its leader Osama bin Laden, who is in Afghanistan under the protection of the Taliban.
The US and its allies prepare to invade when the Taliban refuse to hand over bin Laden.
– October 7 2001: Prime minister Tony Blair announces British forces are involved in military action against al Qaida training camps in Afghanistan.
– November 2001: The first UK troops are deployed after Royal Marines from 40 Commando help secure Bagram airfield.
Taliban rulers swiftly flee Kabul – either to Pakistan or the mountainous regions of Afghanistan, where they prepare to mount an insurgency.
– December 2001: Western forces take the final Taliban stronghold of Kandahar in the south of the country.
The Bonn Conference in Germany sets up interim government the Afghan Transitional Authority and the UN-backed International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) to try to maintain security.
– 2002
– May 2002: UK Royal Marines are deployed to mountain regions to flush out Taliban fugitives in Operation Jacana.
– 2006
– January 2006: The UK Government announces 3,300 British troops are to be deployed in Helmand province, one of the most volatile regions of the country.
– 2007
– December 2007: UK forces are heavily involved in heavy fighting and tactical operations in Helmand following escalating attacks from insurgents.
– 2008
– March 2008: Prince Harry flies back to the UK after serving in Helmand when foreign websites break a media blackout on details of his deployment.
– June 8 2008: Three British soldiers are killed in a suicide attack in Helmand, taking the number of military personnel killed in the conflict since 2001 to 100.
– June 17 2008: Lance Corporal Sarah Bryant, 26, of the Intelligence Corps, becomes the first British servicewoman to die in Afghanistan.
– 2009
– July 2009: Lieutenant Colonel Rupert Thorneloe, commanding officer of the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards, becomes the most senior British Army officer to die on operations since the Falklands.
– August 15 2009: Fusilier Shaun Bush, 24, of 2nd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, dies in hospital in Britain from injuries sustained in Afghanistan, bringing the UK death toll to 200.
– October 14 2009: New prime minister Gordon Brown announces he will send 500 extra British troops to Afghanistan, taking the total to 9,500.
– November 3 2009: Five British soldiers are killed by a rogue Afghan policeman in the Nad-e-Ali district of Helmand.
– December 1 2009: US president Barack Obama announces he is sending another 30,000 American troops to Afghanistan.
– 2010
– June 10 2010: On his first visit to Afghanistan as prime minister, David Cameron warns that the Nato coalition is facing a “vital year”, adding he does not want UK forces to remain there “a moment longer than is necessary”.
– June 20 2010: The British death toll in the conflict reaches 300 when a Royal Marine from 40 Commando dies in hospital in the UK eight days after being wounded in the Sangin area of Helmand province.
– July 2010: The UK Government announces it is increasing development aid spending in Afghanistan by 40%, including a new Business Challenge Fund aimed at increasing enterprise.
– November 2010: At a Nato summit in Lisbon, a timetable for the handover of security control from the ISAF to Afghan forces by the end of 2014 is agreed.
– 2011
– May 2 2011: Osama bin Laden is killed by a US special operations unit after being tracked down living in a compound near Abbottabad, Pakistan.
– June 23 2011: Mr Obama announces the withdrawal of 10,000 US troops from Afghanistan by the end of the year, to be followed by a further 23,000 by the end of September 2012.
– July 6 2011: Mr Cameron announces that the UK will withdraw another 500 troops from Afghanistan in 2012, to follow 400 due to withdraw over the course of 2011.
– July 20 2011: British troops hand responsibility for security in Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province, to Afghan soldiers and police in line with the planned pullout of UK combat forces by the end of 2014.
– 2012
– March 6 2012: The British death toll in the conflict reaches 400 when an explosion in Helmand province kills six British soldiers as they travelled in a Warrior armoured fighting vehicle.
– September 7 2012: Prince Harry arrives at Camp Bastion to serve a 20-week deployment as an Apache co-pilot/gunner with the Army Air Corps which concludes on January 21 2013.
– December 16 2012: Mr Cameron says troops will be coming home in “two relatively even steps” in 2013 and 2014, leaving around 5,200 troops after the end of 2013.
– 2013
– June 18 2013: The transfer of security responsibilities from Nato to Afghan forces is completed.
– 2014
– April 1 2014: The UK’s military headquarters in Helmand is disbanded after eight years of frontline operations.
– April 26 2014: Five British troops, including personnel from Prince Harry’s former unit, are killed in the UK’s worst helicopter crash in Afghanistan.
– October 26 2014: UK troops hand Camp Bastion over to Afghan officials, concluding their eight-year campaign in Helmand province ahead of the complete withdrawal of combat personnel entirely from Afghanistan expected by the end of the year.
An estimated 450 British troops remain in the country to train and support the Afghan security forces.
– 2015
– December 2015: A Taliban resurgence in Helmand prompts the UK Government to deploy a “small number” of personnel to Camp Shorabak to prevent insurgents overrunning the town of Sangin.
The Government says British troops will be in an advisory role only as part of a larger Nato team and will not be in frontline combat.
– 2020
– February 29 2020: US president Donald Trump’s administration agrees a peace deal with the Taliban, pledging to withdraw all of its troops and those of its Nato allies within 14 months if certain conditions are met.
Under the deal, brokered in Doha, the Taliban agreed to withdraw support for terrorist groups and commence talks with the Afghan government.
A prisoner swap of 5,000 Taliban members and 1,000 Afghan security forces is also arranged.
– 2021
– January 2021: President Joe Biden’s new administration reviews Mr Trump’s deal with the Taliban and pushes the final withdrawal date for US troops back to September 2021.
– August 16 2021: Prime Minister Boris Johnson calls a meeting of the Government Cobra emergencies committee as Taliban fighters stand ready to take the Afghan capital of Kabul unopposed.
The House of Commons authorities confirm Parliament will be recalled on Wednesday in response to the crisis.