Afghanistan: Defence committee chair says NATO ‘gave up’ on country and did not have ‘resolve and commitment’ to see mission through – Sky News

NATO "gave up" on Afghanistan and did not have the "resolve and the commitment" to see its mission there through, a senior MP has told Sky News.

Tobias Ellwood, who is chair of the Commons Defence Select Committee, said the result of the rapid withdrawal from the country in August was that the West abandoned Afghanistan "to the very insurgency we went in to defeat in the first place".

The Conservative MP was speaking after the committee heard evidence from Defence Secretary Ben Wallace as part of its inquiry into events in Afghanistan.

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Referring to the minister's evidence, Mr Ellwood told Sky News: "The response you got there was we simply didn't have the determination to see it through. That's very sad indeed.

"It was actually down to, this is what we teased out, that it was all to do with an American election.

"It was all about sending a message to the American people to bring troops home. That was the bumper sticker headline that President Trump wanted and then Joe Biden followed suit."

Mr Ellwood said the crisis had raised a number of fundamental questions.

"The question that the American decision to withdraw actually conjures up is what's the purpose of NATO if we can't do anything without the Americans?

"What is the state of the special relationship when the Americans don't even tell us what they're going to do and offer us an opportunity perhaps for Britain to lead other nations as well?

"And also America's determination to play a role on the international stage and finally of course, extremism? What happens to Afghanistan now that we have vacated this place, having gone in there in order to defeat terrorists back in 2001?"

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He said there were a number of "schoolboy errors" from Western nations during the 20-year presence in Afghanistan and lessons needed to be learnt as "from where I sit, the world is getting more dangerous, not less".

In his evidence, Mr Wallace denied that NATO suffered a military defeat in Afghanistan.

But he acknowledged there was a failure of political "resolve" by the alliance and again blamed the "rotten deal" agreed by Mr Trump for the Taliban's return.

"I don't think that we were defeated. Our resolve was found wanting, I would say, rather than defeated," Mr Wallace said.

"NATO were there to enable a political campaign and I think that is what failed. The military were there to put in place the security environment in order to try and deliver that.

"When that is withdrawn, that is when you find out whether your political campaign has worked. What we discovered is that it didn't work.

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"It was the Western resolve and the Western narrative or political foundations they had laid failed. There are a lot of searching questions there for all of us."

He said it was clear from intelligence assessments at the start of August that the Taliban were advancing in the provinces of Afghanistan and starting to turn their focus towards large cities.

But Mr Wallace said he thought the "game was up" in July and "that we should start the process of significantly drawing down so we were not found to be caught out".

He said the initial mission - launched in the wake of the 9/11 attacks on the US - had been a success.

"We bought counter-terrorism success for 20 years," Mr Wallace told MPs.

"Al Qaeda did not mount... a terrorist attack on the United Kingdom or her allies from Afghanistan. For many soldiers that is very important."

Mr Wallace added: "I think it is highly likely that we will see a return to al Qaeda and an increasing threat coming from Afghanistan but for 20 years we were safer."

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Afghanistan: Defence committee chair says NATO 'gave up' on country and did not have 'resolve and commitment' to see mission through - Sky News