LONDON — It was not the U.S. Congress that returned from its August holiday to gnash its teeth over intelligence failures and military collapse in Afghanistan. Instead, it was the British parliament, which was recalled for a remarkable one-day session on Wednesday, to hear lawmakers give heartfelt speeches honoring fallen soldiers and engage in hours of finger-pointing over what went so wrong so quickly.
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The British were not alone in their day of pointed, painful debate either, as other allies sounded off about stunning events in Kabul. In countries that sent troops to Afghanistan — from Europe, Canada and Australia — politicians and veterans of the war were trying to tally what was gained and what was lost.
Speaking in the House of Commons, Prime Minister Boris Johnson praised hard-won successes in Afghanistan over the last 20 years — specifically the 3.6 million girls now in school there, and the fragile democracy that saw women elected to political office.
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But his own lawmakers warned that all gains of the last 20 might soon be lost.
Johnson told lawmakers that events in Afghanistan “have unfolded faster than I think even the Taliban expected.” In the chamber, both Johnson and President Biden came under tough criticism for the chaotic scenes in Kabul.
The Taliban insists it has changed. Afghanistan’s future hinges on whether that’s true.
Johnson warned the Taliban that it would be judged “on the choices it makes and by its actions rather than its words — on its attitude to terror, to crime and narcotics, as well as humanitarian access and the rights of girls to receive an education.”
The prime minister committed an additional 800 British troops to the Kabul airport to assist with ongoing evacuations of British nationals and locals who worked as support staff and interpreters for British government.
Britain vowed to help 20,000 Afghan refugees resettle in Britain in the coming years. It promised to take 5,000 in the first year — a figure that one lawmaker called “pitiful.”
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Britain has sacrificed blood and treasure in Afghanistan, and has long experience in the region, dating to the Anglo-Afghan Wars, which began in 1839 when British troops invaded from their base in India to put an exiled ruler on the throne — and to blunt Russian influence there — only inspire revolt against the occupiers and their puppet.
After the 9/11 terrorist attacks against its ally the United States, in which 67 British nationals were killed, the U.K. sent the second-largest contingent of forces to the country, deploying 150,000 military personnel over the years. Britain even sent a prince. Harry served two deployments in Afghanistan.
In all, 457 British soldiers died, and many thousands came home, wounded in body or mind.
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Some lawmakers rose to condemn Biden for withdrawing U.S. troops and air support, and for his blunt remarks on Monday night.
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The raucous chamber went quiet when Tory lawmaker and Afghanistan veteran, Tom Tugendhat, rose to speak. He lambasted Biden for questioning the courage of the Afghan troops that he had been proud to fight alongside — before Britain pulled out its troops in 2014.
“To claim that they ran is shameful,” Tugendhat said.
His words were echoed by Ed Davey, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, who said he “couldn’t believe it” when Biden said the Afghans appeared unwilling to fight. It showed the American president had “no awareness” of what was happening on the ground, he said.
Still, it was Johnson who faced the sharpest questions.
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The head of the opposition, Labour Party leader Keir Starmer, accused the prime minister of “staggering complacency.” He mocked Johnson and his foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, for both being on vacation as Kabul fell.
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“You cannot coordinate an international response from the beach,” Starmer said.
Britain had 18 months to prepare for the departure of U.S. troops, and so why are British diplomats, including the ambassador, having to scramble to get nationals and staff out of the country, he asked.
Even lawmakers from Johnson’s own Conservative Party sounded frustrated — and angry. Former prime minister and Johnson predecessor, Theresa May, called the Taliban victory “a major setback for British foreign policy.”
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Seeming to disparage Johnson’s post-Brexit promise of an activist, influential presence on the world stage, May pointedly asked, “We talk about ‘Global Britain,’ but where is Global Britain on the streets of Kabul?”
Britain was not the only U.S. ally to issue harsh critiques.
Among the NATO members in Europe, the Taliban takeover prompted uncomfortable questions over the future of the military alliance and the degree to which Europe should depend on the United States.
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Armin Laschet, the conservative party candidate to succeed German Chancellor Angela Merkel, called the withdrawal “the greatest debacle that NATO has experienced since its foundation.”
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The chaotic aftermath may also dampen optimism for a new U.S.-European era under Biden and play into the hands of Europe’s U.S. critics. The Czech Republic’s pro-Russian and pro-China President Milos Zeman, whose role is largely ceremonial, on Tuesday said the country’s NATO spending is “a bit of a waste of money.”
In an 11-minute televised address on Monday night, French leader Emmanuel Macron only mentioned Biden’s name once, and only to remind viewers of how the West got to where it is now. As Macron went on describe whom he would work with to manage the fallout, he mostly talked about his European counterparts — not Washington.
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Many of the countries that fought alongside the United States paid a heavy price. France lost 89 military members in Afghanistan, more than any other E.U. member state. It was among the first NATO allies to withdraw from the country, pulling its combat troops in 2012 and ending its military mission in 2014, following an insider attack that killed five French soldiers.
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“The first lesson France learned from Afghanistan was that we had to leave Afghanistan,” said Thierry Vircoulon, a foreign affairs researcher.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg blamed Afghanistan’s swift collapse on the country’s political leaders, who, he said, “failed to stand up to the Taliban and to achieve the peaceful solution that Afghans desperately wanted.”
“This failure of Afghan leadership led to the tragedy we are witnessing today,” Stoltenberg said at a Tuesday briefing.
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In Australia, another close U.S. military ally, the Taliban victory has led to debate over the government’s response but little official introspection over the decision to follow the United States into battle two decades ago.
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Prime Minister Scott Morrison has called the scenes “heartbreaking” and “sobering” but shied away from any suggestion that the war wasn’t worth it.
“Freedom is always worth it, fighting for it, whatever the outcome,” he told Australian broadcaster ABC on Tuesday, arguing Australia had sent soldiers to Afghanistan to track down Osama bin Laden and prevent al-Qaeda from using the country as a base of operations, both of which had been successful.
“No Australian who has ever fallen in our uniform has ever died in vain — ever,” Morrison said.
In Canada, which lost 158 soldiers and seven civilians during the war, the Taliban’s swift takeover came the same day Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called a snap federal election in a bid to regain a parliamentary majority.
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Afghanistan has loomed over the first days of campaigning, with Trudeau on the defensive, attempting to fend off charges from his political foes and veterans that his government was unprepared for the U.S. withdrawal and has been far too slow to evacuate Afghans who supported Canada and are now at risk of Taliban reprisals.
In an interview with an Ottawa radio station on Monday, retired Maj. Gen. Denis Thompson, who led NATO’s Task Force Kandahar from 2008 to 2009, said “you could see this slow-moving train wreck coming for quite some time.”
Thompson said Canadian soldiers fought to buy policymakers time to find political solutions, which never came.
Alex Ruff, a Conservative Party candidate and retired infantry colonel who served in Afghanistan, told reporters on Tuesday that he has had “hard” days speaking to the family members of soldiers who died in the conflict “because that’s when they really start questioning things and they’re questioning why we’re not doing more.”
He called the Taliban takeover more than “a major setback.” Ruff said, “I’ll even use the word ‘failure’ of what’s gone on with the … coalition, our own interventions in Afghanistan.”
Noack reported from Paris and Colletta from Toronto. Reis Thebault in Brussels, Michael Miller in Sydney and Stefano Petrelli in Rome contributed to this report.
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