UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace considered that the United States could no longer be considered a superpower. 

He said, "A superpower that is also not prepared to stick at something isn’t probably a superpower either. It is certainly not a global force, it’s just a big power."

When asked if the exit from Afghanistan showed the limits of British power on the world stage, Wallace said: "Britain is clearly not a superpower... but a superpower that is also unwilling to commit to something may as well not be a superpower as well," making a reference, according to those close to him, to the United States of America. 

Wallace also contrasted the Ministry of Defense’s handling of the evacuation crisis with the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO). Over the weekend, it emerged that officials from Dominic Raab’s department had failed to read thousands of emails from MPs and charities tackling urgent cases of Afghans trying to flee from Kabul. 

“All of us have big email inboxes, we have already analyzed ours, we’ve sent defense intelligence analysts around Whitehall to help deal with that,” Wallace said.

The final withdrawal was authorized in April by Joe Biden; a decision that disappointed the UK.