It just gets depressingly, predictably, worse as the Taliban revert to their default behaviour. Scarcely more edifying is the confected outrage from the UK Left. A prime example is the frothing at Dominic Raab for not cutting short his holiday to phone his Afghan opposite number. Assuming he could have got through to him the likelihood of him being able to agree to anything or implement any agreement seems to me to be remote. I would imagine the the Afghan Foreign Minister got out while could. So people are shouting at Raab for not doing something that wouldn’t have done any good anyway.
We’ve also heard quite a lot from a Paul Farthing, ex Royal Marine, now living in Kabul and running the Nowzad charity for dogs. He’s demanding that Boris Johnson gets him and his staff out and has said that he will hold Johnson and Raab ‘personally responsible’ if anything untoward happens to his (now safely evacuated) Norwegian wife and pregnant office administrator. Where to start? He fought in Afghanistan and was moved to return to set up his charity which has attracted some considerable celebrity support. No question that he has done a great thing but, surely neither Johnson nor Raab forced him to, forgive the phrase, ‘go dogging’ in Kabul? He’s an ex Royal Marine who fought there so he should know the First Law of Afghanistan: It’s not safe. It’s never been safe and probably never will be. In the towns and cities it has had periods where it’s been fairly safe but out in the countryside there has always been a significant risk. Goodness knows how many hippies failed to make it but I’d guess a fair few. So, if it’s not safe what did Farthing do to mitigate that risk? Did he make an Evacuation plan or just hope for the best? If he saw it coming why didn’t he do something? Or, if he didn’t see it coming, and I’m sorry but as an ex military man he should have been well aware that the USA created an Afghan Army that was completely dependent on the American provision of weapons, contractors and air support and would disintegrate with incredible speed once that provision ceased, he should have, at a minimum, move as soon as the Yanks did a midnight flit from Bagram and their other strategic bases. Further, absent the Yanks and any other NATO troops the UK cannot enforce it’s will in Kabul and he must know that. But, yet again, the Government must drop everything to save individuals from the consequences of their decisions. His latest complaint appears to be that the MOD is refusing to grant him, his staff and his animals priority access to the airport so they can get on the aircraft he has chartered. Ben Wallace (Defense Secretary) has said repeatedly that there are ‘hours not days’ for the evacuation to continue and he says his priority has to be people not animals. I can’t say that I disagree. Farthing meanwhile is complaining that his emergency line to the MOD has been blocked and is refusing to get on a flight – as a British Passport holder – without his – presumably non British Passport holding – staff. I love his quotes to Sky News: “I am not leaving here without my staff, I am not going to the airport and sit on a plane so his problem goes away.”
“I served my country for 22 years and the MoD has cancelled my emergency line that I had so I can get updates on the situation.” I love that it’s Ben Wallace’s problem not Farthing’s in his view, Me? I would have thought it was my problem if I was him. Just how does serving your country for 22 years entitle you to make all these demands?
Which segues neatly into the cretinous ‘disaster tourist’. A 22 year old physics student from Loughborough University flew into Kabul on Friday the 13th August (Kabul fell on the 15th, but anybody with who even glanced at the news could see that even on the 13th it was imminent. The moron apparently thought he would be able to get out in time and, regrettably, he did – taking up a place that surely could have been better given to someone more deserving.
It does look like the media love fest with Dementia Joe Biden is over. Why did they persist in covering it up? Too invested in getting rid of Trump would be my guess. Which makes it a shame that the current situation is making it more likely that Trump gets re-elected in 2024 and, post 6th January, who would have bet on that? Even in the early days of his presidential campaign it was clear that Biden was struggling and frankly didn’t look up to the job. I think the Democrats need to take a long hard look at themselves. Firstly, why couldn’t Hillary Clinton beat Donald Trump in 2016? That’s a great big red flag for me precisely because the bar was set so low – I mean Donald Trump? But he won. So we had all the fun and frivolity of the Trump Administration – never a dull moment! But the only way the Democrats could beat him was to deliberately select a non controversial figure like… Biden. Who is now repaying their efforts by completely trashing the Democrat brand. His probable successor? Kamala Harris, the Invisible Woman. I see no evidence of competence in her either judging by her performance in sorting out (or not) the immigration issues on their southern border. Dark days lie ahead I fear.