today accept The city is getting new paint. This is not a celebration, but because the new ruler forbids taking pictures. In a small town half the size of London, all billboards, storefronts and public spaces will lose their color, and blank walls will replace charming models.
This is not the worst. Under the white hoarding, a red pool is forming.This TalibanDespite the promises, the executions that have been predicted over the long term and seen in Lashkar Gah and other towns it occupied have already begun.It’s heartbreaking for everyone, but for those of us who know this place and people.
Like all the best cities, it has everything. Market, food, chaos, noise and people from all over the world. Pashtuns are mixed with Tajiks, Uzbeks, Turkmen, Baluchis, and even some Sikhs, each bringing their own style and culture. When I lived there and helped establish the Afghan National Security Council, my Afghan colleagues had their favorite places. Restaurants—even secret bars that serve illegal alcohol—are places where we talk about everything and the past after get off work: life under the old king, the communist period, and the current American period, as they say. It sounds interesting.
My favorite place is Hazara. Delicious ravioli-like pasta, filled with lamb and covered with yogurt, called mantu, comes out of a bamboo steamer, just like oriental cooking. These restaurants will now be closed. In the years before NATO in 2001, their owners often faced persecution by the Taliban. Today, the new government will completely let go of its hands and feet, even without the Northern Alliance to provide asylum.
This is our own tragedy. We have taken out the cornerstones of the complex safety triangle and are now observing its effects. This is a choice. Is our choice. But let us not pretend that it must happen. When we begin to receive reports of executions on the streets, brutality of women, and persecution of Hazaras of people working with us or the Afghan government, please remember that this is because we chose not to redeploy 2,500 soldiers.
This is about half what you need on an aircraft carrier, about 8% of the forces in the Gulf, and a small fraction of the forces that South Korea and Japan have been stationed for decades.
They are not fighting. Since 2013, no British soldiers have been killed in battle. They held their ground. It’s over now. In the next few weeks, we will witness the occurrence of this tragedy-we will witness the hanging on TikTok. Twitter will bring reports of the Holocaust. When you see them, remember that the cost of continuing operations is very low. Our lost friends will never come back. This is a choice. President Biden chose to leave. Now everything that follows is predicted.
Tom Tugendhat is Chairman of the Special Committee on Foreign Affairs
