Veterans feel ‘completely defrauded’ by ‘cataclysmic’ departure from Afghanistan

A former British Army officer who served in Afghanistan has said the West has left ‘chaos in its wake’ as the military withdrawal from the country leaves behind desperate scenes.

Alex Cooper said ‘the world is a more dangerous place’ after the Taliban’s rapid ascent to power in the nation, where he served the UK mission during fierce fighting in the southern Helmand Province.

Mr Cooper, speaking in a personal capacity, has previously described the UK and US intervention as a ‘boy scout mission’ based on a deeply flawed reading of Afghan society, culture and history.

He also warned that British veterans were among those who feel betrayed by the hasty Western drawdown, which paved the way for a lightning Taliban advance across the country and chaotic scenes at Kabul’s airport as thousands of civilians try to flee the capital.

The ignominious departure, supported by 600 UK troops flown back into the country, follows a mission which began two decades ago in response to 9/11 and led to the loss of 457 British lives.

The former infantry soldier said: ‘You can look back with hindsight and say “that wasn’t worth it, was it?” But even at the time, when the then defence secretary John Reid said we would be happy to leave without firing a shot, the thinking was evidently primary school-level.

‘It was always going to be tough, but there was a chance it would have worked in the early years if all the nations involved had utilised their respective departments and NGOs in a coherent way, rather than just paying lip-service to the rebuilding effort.

‘If there had been joined-up government, there could have been a chance, but instead we had the Department for International Development in air-conditioned offices and cars throwing money at quick impact projects which were tiny pin-prick projects on a large map.’

Mr Cooper served 23 years in the Army, which included tours in Iraq and in Helmand, where he was part of British combat operations between 2001 and 2014. He now undertakes academic work to better inform those making decisions affecting Armed Forces veterans and their families.

‘Among the veterans will be a great many who will feel completely defrauded,’ Mr Cooper said.

‘They include those who have already suffered to some extent with PTSD and moral injury, which is a fairly new term meaning the feeling of being done-over. The scenes we are seeing from Kabul are massively triggering to any Afghanistan veteran who has lost a friend, lost a limb or had damage to their mental well-being.

‘There’s very little this or the last government could have done about the outcome, we have been very much second fiddle to an American war, providing a fig leaf of international legitimacy.

‘There are many British politicians who will now be thinking, “thank God we weren’t in charge” because what is unfolding is a cataclysm, it is ignominy; the latest example of where we have toppled strong men and strong groups and tried to play empire-building in the Middle East.

‘In many cases this has been under the excuse of helping local people, education, women’s rights or other causes, but it’s always failed; we have left chaos in our wake.’

Mr Cooper painted a fraught picture of the road ahead for Afghanistan as reports emerged of human rights abuses being carried out by the Taliban, despite its pledge to form an ‘inclusive’ government.

He echoed warnings reported by Metro.co.uk today of resurgent terror groups, such as ISIS, Al-Qaeda and the Haqqani network, regrouping in the absence of the UK, US and other NATO allies.

Mr Cooper said: ‘There will be an increased number of refugees and although the Taliban have said there will be an amnesty for those who were in the military and in government those people will be feeling pretty scared right now, especially those women who joined the Afghan Army.

‘The Taliban is not a nation-state, it is a collection of, in some cases, opportunist groups. This happened faster than even they intended and there will be a huge variation in localised behaviours, violence and control.

‘An awful lot of people will be getting their own back in a country where revenge has been part of the mindset for hundreds of years.

‘The Taliban’s resurgence will embolden rogue groups and states and there is the question of whether Al-Qaeda will come back and regroup in Afghanistan, which of course is why the West went into the country in the first place.’

Another question is why the Western-backed Afghan security forces, which were backed by $88 billion in US funding, collapsed in the space of two weeks as the Taliban advanced into the provincial capitals from rural areas.

Mr Cooper said: ‘The attempt to build up the Afghan forces as a homogenous, Western-style military ignored the different ethnic groups in Afghanistan, the endemic corruption and the fact that many of these soldiers were left in isolated locations with very little support, only occasional pay and, I imagine, no great faith in their leaders.

‘They were not going to stick around. While there were some good special forces troops, they were in small numbers and used as “firefighters”. 

‘The Afghan forces were a facsimile of Western forces but without the same level of air support or weaponry.

‘The local leaders and commanders came to the conclusion this was not worth losing their lives over and many laid down their weapons at the gates.

‘The end result was foretold, it was only the speed which caught the Western governments out, and the world is now a more dangerous place.’

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