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A Kent MP who served in the Middle East says the legacy of his friends who died in the Afghanistan conflict is at risk as Boris Johnson set out details of Britain’s final military withdrawal.
Nearly 20 years after the UK and other foreign forces entered the country in the wake of the 9/11 terror attacks on the US, the Prime Minister addressed MPs, including Tonbridge and Malling representative Tom Tugendhat MP, in the Commons today.
Mr Johnson confirmed all British troops assigned to Nato’s mission in Afghanistan are now returning home.
There are fears the departure of foreign forces will leave the government of President Ashraf Ghani vulnerable in the face of a Taliban advance, rolling back the gains that have been made over the past two decades.
Mr Tugendhat, who served as a territorial army officer in Iraq and Afghanistan, admitted it was an issue close to his heart.
Speaking in the House of Commons, he began by speaking about how he first met Barnsley Central MP Dan Jarvis in Garmsir on the battlefield.
He said: "This is an enormously personal issue for me.
"I didn’t meet the honourable member for Barnsley Central here - or in any of the clubs or think tanks around Westminster - I met him about 20 miles to the west of Garmsir in the deserts as we were fighting side by side against the enemies he’s just listed.
"The achievements listed were worn with the blood of my friends, and I can point him to the graves where they now lay because that legacy is now one that’s in real doubt, and we know it.
"We know it is not just his decision, we know the US decision to withdraw forces was fundamental here.
"But can he explain to me how does Britain's foreign policy work in a country like Afghanistan - if persistence isn’t persistent, if endurance doesn’t endure, then how can people trust us as an ally? How can people look at us as a friend?
"This reminds me, not of Vietnam, but of Germany in 1950 at a time when we could have said ‘It is too expensive, it is too difficult to rebuild. Let’s let Stalin have it and see what happens.’ But we didn’t.
"This is an enormously personal issue for me..."
"We stayed. In doing so, we liberated the whole of Europe peacefully.
"Now, I understand it is hard to do that.
"I understand it demands a lot but the integrated review set out a really impressive strategy - and it wasn’t just summarised with three words ‘God bless, America’."
In response to Mr Tugendhat's remarks in the Commons, Mr Johnson said: "I'm sure the whole house will want to thank him for his service in Afghanistan and everything good he did with his fellow serving men and women.
"But as I think he conceded in his question, what the UK has been able to do in Afghanistan has not been possible through our efforts alone.
"We have to work with others. Of course, the United States plays a massive role in these considerations but I wish to re-assure them and re-assure the house that we are not walking away.
"I made that point absolutely clear to President Ghani on June 17.
"We are keeping our embassy in Kabul and we will continue to work with our friends and allies, particularly the government of Pakistan, to try to bring a settlement - to try to ensure the Taliban understand there can be no military path to victory, and there must be a negotiated solution.
"That is what the British government will continue to do, and that is what we very largely have been doing since 2014."
Mr Johnson wouldn't disclose the exact timetable of the departure for security reasons, but he added: “I can tell the house that most of our personnel have already left.”
Earlier this week, Mr Tugendhat speaking on the Today programme, described the decision to pull forces out as a 'mistake' adding: "What you're doing by withdrawing is you're encouraging enemies and you're dissuading allies - that's dangerous."
Giving evidence to the Commons Liaison Committee yesterday, Mr Johnson said he was “apprehensive” about the future and that the situation was “fraught with risks”.
It follows the announcement in April by US President Joe Biden that he was finally ending the US military presence in the country.
His decision to bring home the remaining 2,500 American troops by the next anniversary of 9/11 in September effectively meant the end of the international military mission – including the return of the last 750 UK military trainers in the country.
