UK Criticizes International Community Over Taliban Return to Power
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United Kingdom Secretary of Defense, Ben Wallace, says it is not time to recognize the Taliban as an official Afghan authority.
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Secretary of State for Defense of the United Kingdom, Ben Wallace.
Ben Wallace, the Secretary of State for Defense of the United Kingdom, described Monday that the Taliban's return to power in Afghanistan is an international community failure. This was carried out in a crisis government meeting on Downing Street.
The secretary, who criticized the US decision to withdraw from Afghanistan just last week on BBC, said what happened was an international community failure. He said that the international community would not understand that "you don't fix things overnight in global issues."
Secretary Wallace said panic is prevailing in the civilian side of the Kabul airport, while the military side is secure and under control.
The United Kingdom had deployed 600 troops to Afghanistan to secure the evacuation of its nationals and embassy staff, and the first flight arrived in England's Royal Air Force Brize Norton base.
The secretary clarified that the UK evacuated 370 British staff and nationals over the past two days, adding that a group of 782 Afghans will be vacated from Afghanistan over the next 24-36 hours.
Wallace also said the UK has a goal of evacuating 1200-1500 people a day.
Touching on the newly sent UK troops to Afghanistan to help in the evacuation process of Afghan allies, Wallace said "some won't get back," on LBC.
Additionally, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is due to chair a Government Cobra meeting Monday - the UK's third in four days.
"Afghanistan must not become a breeding ground for terror and the west must work together to ensure this," said PM Boris Johnson following yesterday's Cobra meeting.
On Monday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced his intention to host a virtual G7 leaders meeting to discuss the situation in Afghanistan.
Johnson's office said he spoke to French President Emmanuel Macron to agree on a means the two countries could cooperate on concerning the recognition of future Afghan governments, as well as ways to address a humanitarian and refugee crisis.
Afghanistan fell into the hands of the Taliban on Sunday after President Ashraf Ghani fled the country to Tajikistan following a collapse among the ranks of the governmental forces.
