Western Daily Press (Saturday)
West MP ‘hopes Taliban will be different this time’
THE Taliban is being “officious rather than malicious” in stopping people reaching Kabul airport for evacuation flights, according to a defence minister and West MP.
James Heappey, MP for Wells, also said he hopes the Taliban will be “different this time”, amid widespread reports that its militants have used violence against Afghans including preventing people reaching the airport to flee.
A total of 963 people have been evacuated from Kabul on the RAF “air bridge” in the last 24 hours, according to the minister.
But the former soldier, who fought in Afghanistan, added that he is kept “awake at night” by the knowledge the UK will not be able to get “absolutely everybody out”.
Asked about the evacuation effort, Mr Heappey highlighted the most recent numbers before telling Sky News: “That’s a significant acceleration on the numbers over the previous 24 hours and reflects that we are now fully up to speed in Kabul with military, Border Force, Foreign Office consular staff all now up and running. We’re looking forward to delivering similar numbers today, tomorrow and over the days ahead.”
Mr Heappey said it is unclear how long the UK evacuation plan will last as it is dependent on the “dynamic” circumstances.
He said he understands that the Taliban is not turning people away from Kabul airport, noting: “Where they have done, I’ve heard it’s more that they are being officious rather than malicious.”
Mr Heappey also told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: “It keeps me awake at night, it keeps the Secretary of State (Ben Wallace) awake at night, it keeps absolutely everyone here at the Ministry of Defence awake at night - that reality that we won’t get absolutely everybody out.
“But what is in our gift is that, through the extraordinary professionalism of our armed forces, we can get as many people out as possible.”
On the future for Afghanistan, Mr Heappey said it was “always inevitable the Taliban would be part of the solution”.
He told Sky News: “It makes me sick, of course it does, to see the scenes we’re seeing in Afghanistan; I gave some of the best years of my life and I risked my life in Afghanistan.
“The fact the Taliban is part of the peace, as painful as that is for people like me who have served, was always going to be the reality.”
The minister added on ITV: “I hope the Taliban is different this time, I hope that they will not want to be an international pariah and that they will behave differently as a consequence.”
He went on: “We have our eyes wide open to what the Taliban could still be, but it’s not a given that they will be that and I think we have to hope that that’s not what they are.”
DOMINIC Raab has defended the Government’s handling of the Afghanistan crisis as he said the “rapidly deteriorating situation” in the country had prevented a call being made to Afghan ministers while he was on holiday.
The Foreign Secretary has come under increasing pressure to resign after it was revealed he was on the Greek island of Crete as the Taliban took control of Afghanistan.
But Mr Raab said ministers have been “working tirelessly” over the last week to evacuate British nationals and Afghans, with the priority being keeping Kabul airport open.
It came after it was reported that Foreign Office officials advised the Cabinet minister on August 13 to call Afghan foreign minister Hanif Atmar - two days before the Taliban marched on Kabul - to arrange help for those who supported British troops.
But Mr Raab delegated this to junior minister Lord Goldsmith, and it later emerged the call had never been made.
In a statement on Friday, Mr Raab said: “This was quickly overtaken by events. The call was delegated to a minister of state because I was prioritising security and capacity at the airport on the direct advice of the director and the director-general overseeing the crisis response.
“In any event, the Afghan foreign minister agreed to take the call, but was unable to because of the rapidly deteriorating situation.”
He went on: “The Government’s approach to prioritise security at the airport was the right one. As a result, 204 UK nationals and their families, Afghan staff and other countries citizens were evacuated on the morning of Monday 16 August. Since then, 1,635 have been evacuated. I pay tribute to the excellent team we have in place, and we continue to prioritise what is required to evacuate people to the UK safely.”
Mr Raab wrote on Twitter that his statement was “responding to the inaccurate media reporting over recent days”.
It comes as Boris Johnson called the latest in a series of COBR meeting on Friday afternoon over the crisis. The Times reported that Sir Philip Barton, Matthew Rycroft and David Williams, the respective permanent secretaries of the Foreign Office, Home Office and Ministry of Defence, were on holiday amid the evacuations from Afghanistan.
It is understood the senior officials continued to work on Afghanistan while on leave, with the Whitehall departments running systems where there is another minister or an acting permanent secretary to cover periods of leave.
But Labour has demanded details about the Government’s handling of the situation in Afghanistan and the Foreign Secretary’s holiday while Kabul fell to the Taliban. Shadow foreign secretary Lisa Nandy also said Mr Raab’s statement “simply doesn’t add up”, adding: “Who knows how many more people might have been saved in the hours leading up to the fall of Kabul if the Foreign Secretary had made the call he was advised to.”