Sir Alex Younger, who led the Secret Intelligence Service from 2014 to 2020, warned it would be a “huge mistake” for the allies to overlook Afghanistan after the withdrawal.
He told Sky News: “The reality is that there are groups out there, we have been very successful in disrupting both Daesh [Islamic State] and al-Qaeda.
“They are on the back foot. But it would be patently wrong to claim that they are gone. And they have the ability to regenerate.
“With no troops on the ground, we’re going to have to think very carefully about how we’re going to handle this.
“It’s vital that we don’t make the mistakes we made the last time around. “
He added that if history repeated itself “it will lead to more threats on the coasts of our country and our allies”.
Sir Alex’s comments on repeating mistakes refer to events following the Soviet invasion of the country in 1989.
When Russian troops left the country, they left a number of training camps untouched which were said to have been used by terrorist groups such as al Qaeda and the Islamic State.
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“What we are demonstrating very publicly, very clearly, to many different adversaries and unfortunately also to our allies, is that the United States and its allies will not stay,” Tugendhat said.
“Now, if you don’t have the capacity to persist, you can forget to influence others. No one will care what you think if you’re not here tomorrow.
He added: “What you are doing by withdrawing is you are encouraging the enemies and deterring the allies – it is dangerous.”
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Source: feedproxy.google.com
This notice was published: 2021-07-04 23:22:14
