Tony Blair has criticised the decision of western forces to withdraw from Afghanistan as a “tragic, dangerous, unnecessary” move in his first public comments since the Taliban insurgency seized control.
The former prime minister said the country had been returned to the same group “which from the carnage of 9/11 arose” and in a “manner which seems almost designed to parade our humiliation”.
He added troops were withdrawn by US President Joe Biden “in obedience to an imbecilic political slogan about ending ‘the forever wars’”, and urged caution in likening the situation this year to that of “20 or even 10 years ago”.
Mr Blair, who took Britain to war in Afghanistan against the Taliban almost two decades ago in 2001, said that troop numbers had declined “to a minimum” and that “no allied soldier had lost their life in combat for [the] 18 months” into 2021.
He claimed that the decision to pull out of the region “was not driven by grand strategy but by politics”.
“The abandonment of Afghanistan and its people is tragic, dangerous, unnecessary, not in their interests and not in ours,” he said.
In a 2,700 word article – published on Saturday evening – Mr Blair, the prime minister between 1997 and 2007, said the UK must also evacuate and “give sanctuary to those whom we have responsibility”.
It comes after Boris Johnson described “formidable” logistics involved in airlifting British nationals and Afghans granted visas out of the region from Hamid Karzai International Airport in the capital.
Speaking on Friday, Mr Biden also suggested that troops involved in the evacuation mission may stay longer than the 31 August deadline, pledging to get “all” American citizens out.
But Mr Blair warned against the “repetition of arbitrary deadlines” in his article. He also said that we should evacuate people “not grudgingly but out of a deep sense of humanity and responsibility”.
The former PM also hit out at the deal reached between the US government under Donald Trump’s administration and the Taliban in Doha, Qatar, in February 2020 to withdraw American troops.
“The world is now uncertain of where the west stands because it is so obvious that the decision to withdraw from Afghanistan in this way was driven not by grand strategy but by politics,” he wrote.
“We didn’t need to do it. We chose to do it. We did it when the sacrifices of our troops had made those fragile gains our duty to preserve.
“We did it when the February 2020 agreement, itself replete with concession to the Taliban, by which America agreed to withdraw if the Taliban negotiated a broad based government … we did it with every jihadist group round the world cheering.”
Claiming Britain had “little or no consultation” on the decision by the US – the country’s “greatest ally” – to the withdraw troops, Mr Blair said Britain had “serious reflection to do”.
“We don’t see it yet. But we are at risk of relegation to the second division of global powers. Maybe we don’t mind. But we should at least take the decision deliberatively.”
His intervention follows the call from the Labour MP, Zarah Sultana, who wrote in an article this week that the Labour Party should apologise for leading Britain into war with Afghanistan alongside the United States, and also described the intervention as a “mistake of catastrophic proportions” during an emergency Commons debate.
Addressing his own role, Mr Blair said: “As the leader of our country when we took the decision to join America in removing the Taliban from power, who saw the high hopes we had of what we could achieve for the people and the world, subside under the weight of bitter reality, I know better than most how difficult are the decisions of leadership and how easy it is to be critical and how hard to be constructive.”
In the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Mr Blair went on: “We forget this now, but the world was spinning on its axis.
“We feared attack, possibly worse. The Taliban were given an ultimatum: yield up the al-Qaeda leadership or be removed from power so that Afghanistan could not be used for further attacks. They refused. We felt there was no safer alternative for our security than keeping our word”.
However, he added: “We held out the prospect backed by substantial commitment of turning Afghanistan from a failed terror state into a functioning democracy on the mend.
“It may have been a misplaced ambition, but it was not an ignoble one. There is no doubt that in the years that followed we made mistakes, some serious ones”.
After Mr Johnson suggested the UK would work with the insurgent group if “necessary” – as the evacuation of British nationals and Afghans granted visas continues – Mr Blair also said the government needs to “work out a means of dealing with the Taliban and exerting maximum pressure on them”.
Ahead of a meeting of the G7 leaders – chaired by the UK – he said governments should commit to coordinating help to the people of Afghanistan and “holding the new regime to account”.
“We need to draw up a list of incentives, sanctions, actions we can take including to protect the civilian population so the Taliban understand their actions will have consequences,” he added.
