Conservatives have reacted with anger at Joe Biden’s speech justifying his decision to pull US troops out of Afghanistan while placing blame on the country’s political leaders, with one MP describing it as “grotesque”.

       It comes after the US president used a national address the day after the Afghan capital, Kabul, was seized by the Taliban, and chaos erupted at the airport, saying he stood “squarely behind” his decision to withdraw troops from the region.

       Admitting the takeover of Afghanistan unfolded “more quickly than we had anticipated”, he also argued the country’s political leaders “gave up and fled the country” — rather than resisting the insurgents.

       “The Afghan military collapsed, sometimes without trying to fight,” he said. “American troops cannot and should not be fighting in a war and dying in a war that Afghan forces are not willing to fight for themselves”

       Claiming the military in the country “were well equipped” with “every tool” they would need, he went on: “We gave them every chance to determine their own future. We could not provide them with the will to fight for their future.”

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       However, the speech provoked anger among some quarters of the Conservative Party, with the MP Simon Clarke posting on social media: “The more you reflect, the more you realise the speech POTUS gave last night was grotesque.

       “An utter repudiation of the America so many of us have admired so deeply all our lives — the champion of liberty and democracy and the guardian of what’s right in the world.”

       The former Tory MP Rory Stewart, who ran for the leadership of the party in 2019, also described the speech to The Independent as “hollowed, devoid of empathy, and naively pessimistic”.

       Tom Tugendhat — the chair of the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee — also told The Independent: “Blame shifting in the fact of the predicted disaster that is Afghanistan today is extraordinary.”

       “We need to take responsibility for our actions and recognise the consequence of political decisions,” he said.

       Addressing the situation in Afghanistan on Tuesday, Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary, suggested the situation at Kabul international airport was “stabilising” as the UK continued attempts to evacuate British citizens and some Afghans granted visas.

       The cabinet minister revealed around 2,000 UK nationals had contacted the Foreign Office from Afghanistan, but also echoed comments from the defence secretary Ben Wallace, saying there was “always a risk” some people could be left if the situation deteriorates.

       However, the foreign secretary, who arrived back in London on Monday after being on holiday in Greece, attempted to claim the no one saw the swift Taliban takeover in the country “coming” as the government faced criticism over its strategy.

       “We’ve monitored this very carefully, but the truth is across the world people were caught by surprise,” he told Sky News.