Afghan data breach a shameful sequel to the Kabul horror story
A month from now will see the fourth anniversary of the fall of Kabul. The return of the Taliban and the withdrawal of Western troops marked one of the most horrendous and humiliating failures in our history.
We abandoned Afghanistan more than two decades after participating in the initial offensive to topple Osama Bin Laden's hosts, the tragically ironically named Operation Enduring Freedom.
For a week or so in August 2021, soldiers from the Parachute Regiment were tasked with securing the perimeter at Kabul International Airport so that a massive airlift could take place.
Watching it first hand, one couldn't help but marvel as dozens of giant transport planes took off steeply and at full power, eager to evade any parting shots.
And then you reminded yourself of the shame that was behind this flight and the consequences for the friends we would inevitably leave behind.
The British staging post at the airport was called the Baron Hotel. One boiling afternoon that August we went to a small side entrance and saw Paras firing warning shots over the heads of hundreds of Afghans desperate to get into the compound and out of their country.
Some of these people were waving UK passports, but were denied entry nonetheless because their names weren't on the approved list.
That was probably the worst week of my working life. It was incredibly depressing, not least because we knew what was in store for Afghanistan.
The morning after the Taliban re-entered Kabul we drove until we were stopped at one of their checkpoints.
Displaying a confidence we were not feeling, we demanded 'take us to your leader'.
At what had the day before been the UN headquarters, we interviewed the man now in charge of a large part of the Afghan capital. A week before he was running a suicide bomber school.
Never have I said 'sorry' so often. Especially to the women we met.
These were people who had bet their futures on us, only to see us cut and run.
Near the entrance to the Baron Hotel that day I noticed a family of four sitting in the shade of a wall.
I crouched down and asked the husband and father if he spoke English. He said he did and that he had worked as a terp (interpreter) for 42 Commando in Nad-e-Ali in Helmand Province.
That struck a chord as I had embedded with the Royal Marines in that exact place.
The man who had served UK forces told me he thought he had no chance of getting away. He wasn't on any list.
There were tears running down my cheeks as he told me this. Ridiculously, he started consoling me.
He put an arm around me and said repeatedly, 'It's ok, it's ok.'
I'm thinking about that man and his family again today. Having abandoned them four years ago, has governmental incompetence placed them in even more danger?
Whatever has happened to them, it's definitely not ok.
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