Min. Raab: British intelligence failed to predict situation in Afghanistan

LONDON, The Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said, Wednesday, that the British intelligence failed to give an accurate assessment of the time with which the Taliban took over the capital Kabul and the rapid collapse of the political system.

In a reply to a question by the commons foreign affairs committee, Raab said that it was not expected that the capital Kabul would be controlled by the Taliban this year,” the British government put an exceptional plan in case of the opposite, and this is what actually happened.

“There was an American optimism about the Taliban’s inability to expand rapidly, although I have always been wary of that,” he said.

Raab defended his country’s decision to withdraw from Afghanistan to coincide with the US withdrawal, stressing, “It is possible to continue without the United States, and there is no desire or ability for the (NATO) to maintain a military alliance in Afghanistan without American participation.” Raab revealed his intention to visit a number of neighboring countries to Afghanistan to discuss the situation there to avoid a humanitarian and refugee crisis that might complicate the region’s conditions.

On Tuesday, the British Special Envoy to Afghanistan Simon Gass held talks in Doha with representatives of the (Taliban) to secure safe passage out of Afghanistan for a number of British nationals and Afghans who remain there.

Source: Kuwait News Agency

Categories