British troops to withdraw from Afghanistan alongside US
Ahmed Kaballo
Press TV, London
The UK will withdraw nearly all its troops from Afghanistan after President Biden said US forces would leave before this year's 20th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks. About 750 British soldiers are stationed in Afghanistan but sources said that they would struggle without American support because of a reliance on US bases and infrastructure.
Over 100,000 Afghan civilians have been killed, 454 British troops and 2,488 US troops. It has cost the British taxpayers more than £37bn and US taxpayers a whopping $2.4 trillion and it ranks United states longest ever war and has lasted twice as long as both world wars combined. Yet what has been achieved?
The Taliban which they fought so hard to oust are poised to return power and control most of the country. Takfiri terrorist groups like Al-Qaeda are still present in the country and new groups like Deash have emerged. Moreover, Afghanistan now accounts for 93% of the world’s illicit heroin supply with heroin production reaching its record levels in 2017.
The speaker of the Afghan parliament, Mir Rahman Rahmani, has warned the withdrawal of foreign forces in the current circumstances will lead to civil war with many arguing that the incumbent government is simply not strong enough to maintain power.
Afghanistan has earned itself the nickname the “Graveyard of Empires" due to the failure of empire after empire, nation after nation to successfully occupy and pacify the people. Many will question why it took the U.S and the UK so long to accept the inevitable that this was a war that they simply could not win.
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