Tuesday 24 May 2022 12:07 AM Dominic Raab slammed for his absence during chaos of Afghanistan withdrawal trends now
Dominic Raab was condemned yesterday for his lack of leadership when Kabul fell to Taliban forces.
In a damning report, MPs said a fundamental lack of planning and preparation by Mr Raab and senior officials meant the withdrawal from Afghanistan was 'a disaster and a betrayal of our allies'. They said the incompetence may have cost lives.
The MPs are demanding the resignation of the Foreign Office's top mandarin and raised the suggestion that senior figures may not be 'telling the truth' about the airlift of animals from a shelter run by former Royal Marine Paul 'Pen' Farthing.
The Commons foreign affairs committee said there had been an 'appalling mismanagement' of the situation in Afghanistan last summer with 'systemic failures of intelligence, diplomacy, planning and preparation'.
Ahead of the fall of Kabul, they found the UK Government did 'too little to lay the groundwork' with countries surrounding Afghanistan to secure their help for an evacuation effort.
In a damning report, MPs said a fundamental lack of planning and preparation by Mr Raab and senior officials meant the withdrawal from Afghanistan was 'a disaster and a betrayal of our allies'. They said the incompetence may have cost lives. Pictured: A full flight of 265 people are evacuated out of Kabul by the UK Armed Forces on August 21, 2021
British armed forces work with the U.S. military to evacuate eligible civilians and their families out of the country on August 21, 2021
Dominic Raab was condemned yesterday for his lack of leadership when Kabul fell to Taliban forces
A US Air Force aircraft is pictured taking off from the airport in Kabul today as the US deployment in the country comes to an end
The UK completed its withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, with the US due to complete its exit by Joe Biden's deadline of August 31
British military personnel returning to RAF Brize Norton, August 29, 2021
In the eight months leading to the Taliban's takeover, Mr Raab, who was foreign secretary at the time, made just one call on the subject to a neighbouring country. 'Though the UK Government saw a rapid collapse in Afghanistan as a plausible scenario, the Foreign Office failed properly to prepare for it,' the MPs said.
'As the situation deteriorated, the Foreign Secretary should have taken the lead on contact with third countries, making intensive efforts to put in place evacuation routes. Instead, he delegated meetings to junior ministers, only stepping into action once Kabul had fallen.'
The MPs said that as soon as the US announced in February 2020 it was withdrawing from Afghanistan, ministers should have 'immediately taken steps' to develop a 'clear and coherent policy on who it would prioritise for evacuation'. Both Mr Raab and Sir Philip Barton, the head of the diplomatic service, were away on holiday when the Taliban seized control of Kabul on August 15.
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