UK's former top general: West lacked ‘true understanding’ of political situation in Afghanistan
Western powers did not have any “true understanding” of the political situation in Afghanistan, which brought the Taliban back to power, a former UK military official says.
“I don’t think there was ever a true understanding of the political dynamics on the ground and therefore the ability to be able to rationalize," General Nick Carter, the former head of British armed forces, told BBC Radio 4’s Today program on Thursday.
He said the US evacuation from Afghanistan after the Taliban’s seizure of power created “shocking” scenes in the war-torn country.
“You think of the Afghan people, and of course you wonder how it ended like that,” Carter said, referring to the chaotic American withdrawal from Afghanistan after 20 years of occupation.
“Because we thought we had a good plan, we were going to deliver something at the end of all of that. And so it was a true shock, I think, to most of us, who’d been involved,” he said.
Carter said the West needs to cooperate with the Taliban to aid the Afghan population that is facing a humanitarian crisis.
“I also think it’s important that we engage because we might be able to encourage them to govern in a different way. And the fact that they are governing in an utterly uninclusive way, is something that we need to worry about,” he added.
Carter had previously defended the Taliban as “country boys, who live by a code of honor.”
Asked earlier in August about collaborating with the Taliban as the “enemy,” Carter replied, “You have to be very careful using the word enemy” when referring to the group.
“They recognize that over the course of last 20 years Afghanistan has evolved. They recognize the fundamental role women have played in that evolution.”
The Taliban captured Kabul and ousted the government of the now runaway President Ashraf Ghani on August 15, following a military blitz that put them in control of almost all provincial capitals with little or no resistance from government troops.
Ghani told Carter during a panel discussion on BBC once that when he woke up on August 15 he had “no inkling” it would be his last day in Afghanistan.
“I did not know where we were going; only when we took off did it become clear that we were leaving. So this really was sudden,” Ghani said.
The Taliban are poised to run Afghanistan again, 20 years after they were removed from power by American forces following the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.
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