IndiPosted at: Aug 23 2021 1:21AM Tony Blair slams the US's abandonment of Afghanistan as 'tragic, dangerous and unnecessary'
London, Aug 22 (UNI) Taking a dim view of the US’s decision to withdraw from Afghanistan amid the Taliban takeover, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair has termed the abandonment of Afghanistan and its people as “tragic, dangerous, unnecessary” and “not in their interests and not in ours”.
In an essay titled ‘Why We Must Not Abandon the People of Afghanistan – For Their Sakes and Ours ‘, Blair, who is head of the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, wrote that in the aftermath of the decision to return Afghanistan to the same group from which the carnage of 9/11 arose, “and in a manner that seems almost designed to parade our humiliation, the question posed by allies and enemies alike is: has the West lost its strategic will?”
“Meaning: is it able to learn from experience, think strategically, define our interests strategically and on that basis commit strategically? Is long term a concept we are still capable of grasping? Is the nature of our politics now inconsistent with the assertion of our traditional global leadership role? And do we care?”
“As the leader of our country when we took the decision to join the United States in removing the Taliban from power – and who saw the high hopes we had of what we could achieve for the people and the world subside under the weight of bitter reality – I know better than most how difficult the decisions of leadership are, and how easy it is to be critical and how hard to be constructive.”
He said when 20 years ago, following the 11 September attacks, when “the world was spinning on its axis” and the US-led coalition decided to intervene in Afghanistan to remove the Taliban from power, they “held out the prospect, backed by substantial commitment, of turning Afghanistan from a failed terror state into a functioning democracy on the mend.”
“It may have been a misplaced ambition, but it was not an ignoble one. There is no doubt that in the years that followed we made mistakes, some serious. But the reaction to our mistakes has been, unfortunately, further mistakes. Today we are in a mood that seems to regard the bringing of democracy as a utopian delusion and intervention, virtually of any sort, as a fool’s errand.”
He says that the world “is now uncertain of where the West stands because it is so obvious that the decision to withdraw from Afghanistan in this way was driven -- not by grand strategy but by politics”.
“We didn't need to do it. We chose to do it. We did it in obedience to an imbecilic political slogan about ending “the forever wars”, as if our engagement in 2021 was remotely comparable to our commitment 20 or even ten years ago, and in circumstances in which troop numbers had declined to a minimum and no allied soldier had lost their life in combat for 18 months.”
Blair says that there were real gains in the past 20 years of the coalition powers remaining in Afghanistan. “And for anyone who disputes that, read the heart-breaking laments from every section of Afghan society as to what they fear will now be lost. Gains in living standards, education particularly of girls, gains in freedom. Not nearly what we hoped or wanted. But not nothing. Something worth defending. Worth protecting.”
He says that the withdrawal comes at a time “when the sacrifices of our troops had made those fragile gains our duty to preserve”.
“We did it when the February 2020 agreement, itself replete with concessions to the Taliban, by which the US agreed to withdraw if the Taliban negotiated a broad-based government and protected civilians, had been violated daily and derisively.”
“We did it with every jihadist group around the world cheering.”
“Russia, China and Iran will see and take advantage. Anyone given commitments by Western leaders will understandably regard them as unstable currency.”
“We did it because our politics seemed to demand it. And that’s the worry of our allies and the source of rejoicing in those who wish us ill.”
“They think Western politics is broken.”
“Unsurprisingly therefore friends and foes ask: is this a moment when the West is in epoch-changing retreat?
“I can't believe we are in such retreat, but we are going to have to give tangible demonstration that we are not.”
Blair says that coalition powers must evacuate and give sanctuary to those Afghans who helped them. “There must be no repetition of arbitrary deadlines. We have a moral obligation to keep at it until all those who need to be are evacuated. And we should do so not grudgingly but out of a deep sense of humanity and responsibility.”
He also said that they should “exert maximum pressure” on the Taliban, using the leverages the West still have. He said Afghanistan and its finances and public-sector workforce are “significantly dependent on aid notably from the US, Japan, the UK and others”.
“The average age of the population is 18. A majority of Afghans have known freedom and not known the Taliban regime. They will not all conform quietly.”
He suggested that the UK, as the current G7 chair, should convene a Contact Group of the G7 and other key nations, and commit to coordinating help to the Afghan people and holding the new regime to account. And that NATO – which has had 8,000 troops present in Afghanistan alongside the US – and Europe should be brought fully into cooperation under this grouping.
“We need to draw up a list of incentives, sanctions and actions we can take, including to protect the civilian population so the Taliban understand their actions will have consequences.”
“This is urgent. The disarray of the past weeks needs to be replaced by something resembling coherence, and with a plan that is credible and realistic.”
“But then we must answer that overarching question. What are our strategic interests and are we prepared any longer to commit to upholding them?”
He said that President Vladimir Putin of Russia was able to assiduously commit to protecting the Syrian regime, while the West floundered in trying to remove President Assad. “And though Putin was intervening to prop up a dictatorship and we were intervening to suppress one, he, along with the Iranians, secured his goal. Likewise, though we removed the Qaddafi government in Libya, it is Russia, not us, who has influence over the future.”
“Afghanistan was hard to govern all through the 20 years of our time there. And of course, there were mistakes and miscalculations. But we shouldn’t dupe ourselves into thinking it was ever going to be anything other than tough, when there was an internal insurgency combining with external support – in this case, Pakistan – to destabilise the country and thwart its progress.”
“The Afghan army didn’t hold up once US support was cancelled, but 60,000 Afghan soldiers gave their lives, and any army would have suffered a collapse in morale when effective air support vital for troops in the field was scuttled by the overnight withdrawal of maintenance.”
“There was endemic corruption in government, but there were also good people doing good work to the benefit of the people.”
“Read the excellent summary of what we got right and wrong from General Petraeus in his New Yorker interview.
“It often dashed our hopes, but it was never hopeless.
“Despite everything, if it mattered strategically, it was worth persevering provided that the cost was not inordinate and here it wasn't. “
“If it matters, you go through the pain. Even when you are rightly disheartened, you can't lose heart completely. Your friends need to feel it and your foes need to know it."
UNI RN ACL0121