THE SNP’s Tommy Sheppard has called for an inquiry into UK policy on Afghanistan amid a growing humanitarian crisis as many thousands of its citizens try to flee the country after the Taliban seized power.
Sheppard spoke out after parents were pictured passing babies over barbed wire fences to soldiers at Kabul airport in a bid to get their children to safety. Desperate Afghans were also filmed earlier this week clambering on the wheels of military aircraft leaving the capital.
Thousands of men and women fear they will be executed for working with Western powers after the US and UK invaded Afghanistan in 2001 in a bid to defeat the Taliban.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab (below) were both rounded on by their own MPs in the Commons on Wednesday during a Commons debate for their response to the worsening crisis in Afghanistan.
They were criticised for not foreseeing the Taliban’s advance and preparing an orderly exit plan after a deal on the US withdrawal of troops had been agreed by Donald Trump 18 months ago, with a deadline set for May 1 this year.
MPs also showed their fury at US president Joe Biden during the seven-hour debate, after he suggested that the fall of the country to the Taliban was the fault of the Afghan military and its leaders.
Writing on Twitter yesterday Sheppard said: “Once the immediate crisis has abated, we need an inquest into what went wrong.
“1000s have died in the attempt to create a functioning Afghan state and yet the speed of the Taliban’s victory once Western militaries withdrew proves there has clearly been a colossal policy failure.”
Johnson has said he will give refuge in the UK to 20,000 Afghans over the coming years, a figure which has been slammed by Nicola Sturgeon as too low.
Roza Salih, a SNP Holyrood candidate, and a former Kurdish refugee, yesterday gave her support to people in Afghanistan.
She tweeted: “Sad times for Afganisthan we should commit in establishing a resettlement scheme for refugees that needs us now. Not just employers who have helped the UK Government in Afghanistan. More needs to be done.”
UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said another company of soldiers had been flown into Afghanistan to help with public order.
Amid reports that women had been handing their babies to British troops to take them to safety, he told Sky News: “Obviously we can’t just take a minor on their own.”
He said if children were being taken by British troops it was because their families were also being removed from the country as well.
Meanwhile, Afghan protesters defied the Taliban for a second day yesterday, waving their national flag in scattered demonstrations, and the fighters again responded violently as they faced down growing challenges to their rule.
A UN official warned of dire food shortages and experts said the country was severely in need of cash while noting that the Taliban are unlikely to enjoy the generous international aid that the civilian government they dethroned did.
In light of these challenges, the Taliban have moved quickly to suppress any dissent, despite their promises they have become more moderate since they last ruled Afghanistan with draconian laws. Many fear they will succeed in erasing two decades of efforts to expand women’s and human rights.
The Taliban so far have offered no specifics on how they will lead, other than to say they will be guided by Shariah, or Islamic, law.
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