Whistleblower: As Afghanistan fell, UK deserted supporters

Britain’s Foreign Office deserted lots of the nation’s allies in Afghanistan and left them to the mercy of the Taliban through the fall of the capital, Kabul, due to a dysfunctional and arbitrary evacuation effort, a whistleblower alleged Tuesday.
In devastating proof to a parliamentary committee, Raphael Marshall mentioned hundreds of pleas for assist by way of e-mail had been unread between Aug. 21 and Aug. 25. The former Foreign Office worker estimated that solely 5% of Afghan nationals who utilized to flee beneath one U.Ok. program obtained assist. At one level, he was the one individual monitoring the inbox.
“There were usually over 5,000 unread emails in the inbox at any given moment, including many unread emails dating from early in August,” he wrote to the Foreign Affairs Select Committee. “These emails were desperate and urgent. I was struck by many titles including phrases such as ‘please save my children’.”
Former Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, who was moved from the Foreign Office to turn into Justice Secretary after his dealing with of the disaster, defended his actions.
“Some of the criticism seems rather dislocated from the facts on the ground, the operational pressures that with the takeover of the Taliban, unexpected around the world…” he advised the BBC. “I do think that not enough recognition has been given to quite how difficult it was.”

The Taliban stormed throughout Afghanistan in late summer time, capturing all main cities in a matter of days, as Afghan safety forces educated and outfitted by the U.S. and its allies melted away. The Taliban took over Kabul on Aug. 15.
Many who had labored for Western powers or the federal government frightened that the nation might descend into chaos or the Taliban might perform revenge assaults towards them.
Many additionally feared the Taliban would reimpose the cruel interpretation of Islamic legislation that they relied on once they ran Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001. At the time, ladies needed to put on the all-encompassing burqa and be accompanied by a male family member at any time when they went outdoors. The Taliban banned music, reduce off the fingers of thieves and stoned adulterers.