Thursday, August 12, 2021

Biden's comments deeply disappointing

Responding to President Biden's comments that he has "no regrets" on withdrawal, Liberal Democrat Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Layla Moran MP said: 

"President Biden’s comments are deeply disappointing.
 
"Women and girls in Afghanistan put their trust in US, UK and other coalition forces. Now, as a direct result of the nature of our withdrawal, they face the terrible prospect of their human rights being routinely violated and their liberties totally curtailed.
 
"Make no mistake, the UK, US and other NATO countries will bear the responsibility for this betrayal for decades to come. It is a shameful situation."

2 comments:

nigel hunter said...

Other countries will think twice about asking for western help.A paper tiger burns,a solid one does not. Peace talks are fine as long as both sides are trusted.Whilst both sides talk TALIBAN REINFORCE, CLASSIC ACTION.The west was very naive
I understand that Pakistan is 'discreetly' helping the Taliban.If so they are the ones that need to be put under supervision.Equally are the Taliban and Pakistan both of the same faction shia or sunni ? Most muslims want what everybody else wants ,house job etc. These factions of the religion who disagree on (as far as I am concerned) on a minor decision after the prophets death are responsible for many mistakes astrocities etc of Islama

Frank Little said...

Notwithstanding the Lib Dems position on the withdrawal and NIgel's comment, the Afghan government is not blameless. Channel 4 News yesterday relayed contributions from a couple of residents of Kandahar which at that time had not yet fallen. They blamed corruption at the highest level together with a reluctance on the part of national government to connect with local people. They were grateful to Western forces and especially the US for defending the peace of ordinary Afghanis and for giving aid, even though much of the latter was misappropriated.

The lesson should have been learned from Iraq that we cannot solve the problem of post-conflict government simply by throwing money at it.

As to Pakistan, Imran Khan denies that his country is helping the Taliban. Maybe that is true in terms of the state itself, but observers say that elements of the Pakistani military are sympathetic and are more or less openly helping the insurgents. Imran is either out of touch or more likely cynically turning a blind eye.