‘This Doesn’t Need to be Defeat. But at the Moment, it Damn Well Feels Like It’
August 19, 2021 | Nick Fishwick
Cipher Brief Expert Nick Fishwick CMG retired in 2012 after nearly thirty years in the British Foreign Service. He did postings in Lagos, Istanbul and Kabul. His responsibilities in London included director of security and, after returning from Afghanistan in 2007, director for counterterrorism. His final role was as director general for international operations.
OPINION — How are the allies reacting to the latest disasters in Afghanistan? I can only speak for Britain. We have a long history of sporadic and largely unsuccessful involvement in the country, going back at least to the early 19th century. We have lost over 450 military lives in Afghanistan since 2001 plus a number of civilians. Thousands of British people, myself included, served in Afghanistan in one role or another so, it may be worth looking at how this is playing over here.
Perhaps this background should make it less of a surprise that the British media and political classes having largely ignored Afghanistan at least since we ceased combat operations many years ago, are now obsessed with the place. Media coverage of the collapse of Afghanistan has been intense. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, enjoying a holiday somewhere or other, was forced to recall the British parliament from its summer recess and we have just witnessed a lively Parliamentary debate that gives insights into how people feel about the collapse of the Afghan state.
I would say this is crystallising into five sometimes overlapping schools of thought. First, those who say that the Afghan venture was never going to work. A second school says that our hands were tied by President Trump’s deal with the Taliban and President Biden’s decision to proceed with the withdrawal. We did the best we could. Thirdly, those who say on the contrary, that we failed to prepare properly for the withdrawal. Fourth, the argument that not all was going wrong in Afghanistan, and we should never have gone along with the withdrawal. Finally, some are starting to think through the broader implications for national security, for how this shambles will affect our country and the world we live in.
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