LONDON
- Alone, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson faces an endless storm of criticism;
Because of his government's handling of developments in Afghanistan, and the "catastrophic" evacuation that is still going on at Kabul airport, which has resulted in the deaths of a number of civilians.
The British Parliament turned into a hall for the trial of Johnson, along with the government and the intelligence services, which were accused by a number of leaders of the Conservative and Labor parties of failing to anticipate this rapid fall of Kabul Airport, as well as the demand for the dismissal of Foreign Minister Dominic Raab from his post because of his handling of the Taliban entry into Kabul.
The British government's troubles were increased by what appears to be a silent week-long crisis with the United States, due to the details of the withdrawal process, and London's reproach to Washington that the matter took place unexpectedly quickly and without the required coordination.
crisis with Washington
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is exerting what he was able to pressure on US President Joe Biden to postpone the complete withdrawal of US forces until after the end of next month, in order to ensure the evacuation of all Western nationals from Kabul.
It is expected that Johnson will continue to urge Biden during the Group of Seven summit that will take place this week from a distance, in order to keep US forces until the evacuation of hundreds of Britons, but so far he has not received any guarantees of that.
Johnson's entry on the line came after a meeting between US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and British Dominic Raab, in which the latter made a presentation explaining the importance of postponing the complete withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan, but he also did not receive any reassurance.
This comes after a week in which criticism leveled against Americans from the British political class, including those affiliated with Johnson, for what they considered American haste and lack of coordination with Britain, which is considered concerned with every development in Afghanistan.
intelligence failure
"Why did our country's intelligence not anticipate this downfall of Kabul?"
It is a question that has been asked by more than one senior politician in Britain, including former Prime Minister Theresa May, who explicitly said that what happened in Kabul was an intelligence failure in not providing accurate data.
Criticism also came from Mark Harper, who was a candidate to lead the Conservative Party and one of the influential in it. He described what happened as "a catastrophic failure to anticipate and appreciate the ability of the Taliban movement to control Kabul", in an expression of the words of many British politicians who consider that what happened It is an intelligence inability to assess the situation.
But the response that came from Johnson to defend intelligence and his government that "the events of Afghanistan rolled on like a flood, and the collapse took place at a speed that even the Taliban did not expect," at the same time rejecting the accusation that the government was not ready to deal with the developments.
Minister on vacation
One of the biggest victims of the events in Afghanistan is the British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, whose dismissal is still being demanded, due to his being on vacation and not answering the calls of many senior government officials on the day when the Taliban movement controlled the capital, Kabul.
In a strong speech to opposition leader Keir Starmer, after he reviewed the names of all those in parliament who had previously served in Afghanistan, he considered the treatment of Johnson's government and his foreign minister "a shameful thing", adding that when the Taliban were at the gates of Kabul, "the foreign minister was on vacation." The Foreign Minister replied that if he was in his place, how would he deal with an event like this?
Starmer replied that he would be in his office, not on the beach.
Criticisms directed at the Minister of Foreign Affairs reached the media, which accuses the foreign agencies of "putting all the weight on the Ministry of Defense and not doing its duty," which is denied by the Foreign Ministry, which confirms that it is closely following events.
Blair attacks Biden
After days of silence, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair came out in a lengthy article criticizing the US decision to withdraw from Afghanistan so quickly, stressing that the West has a moral responsibility to stay until all those who must be expelled from Afghanistan are evacuated.
Blair called the withdrawal "a hasty, tragic, dangerous and unnecessary decision that undermines the goals of the West," accusing US President Biden of being driven by "a lunatic political slogan about ending eternal wars, as if our participation in 2021 could be compared from a distance to our commitment 20 or even 10 years ago."
Blair accused the US president of making the whole of the West questionable, because "the world is now unsure of the West's position, because it is very clear that the decision to withdraw from Afghanistan in this way was not motivated by strategic dimensions but by politics."
Investigation Committee
The Parliamentary Security Oversight Committee is heading to request all intelligence files related to Afghanistan, especially those related to the events of the Taliban’s takeover of the capital, Kabul, in order to ascertain the credibility of the British government’s statements that they were stunned by the speed of the Taliban’s control of the country.
The investigative committee wants to know whether the intelligence had warned the government of an imminent collapse of Afghan forces, or if it was expecting to hold out for more time. The Intelligence and Security Committee in the British Parliament has powers that allow it to review intelligence files and listen to intelligence agents working on the Afghan file.