Speaking to the Sky News network, Wallace criticized in particular the ‘rotten’ agreement signed in 2020 by then-US President Donald Trump and the Afghan insurgents that sealed the departure in 14 months of all the soldiers of the international coalition.
‘At the time of the Trump deal with, obviously the Taliban, I felt that was a mistake to have done it that way. We will all, in the international community probably pay the consequences of that’, Wallace said.
Within weeks of US-led foreign forces completing their withdrawal after 20 years of occupation, the Taliban control more than two-thirds of the country and are pressing government forces in several provincial capitals.
According to reports, the extremist group took over the city of Kandahar in the last hours, and in three months could assume full control of the country.
The British government, which already withdrew its troops from Afghanistan, announced on Thursday the dispatch of 600 soldiers to support UK diplomatic personnel and relocate Afghan collaborators.
When questioned about it, Wallace assured that the deployment of the British military had been planned for a long time as part of the withdrawal operation, and denied that it was a last minute decision.
The Defense Minister, however, did not rule out a return of UK troops to Afghanistan if the Taliban once again host the terrorist organization Al Qaeda, and it becomes a threat to the West.
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