6 days ago
Finally, the ineptitude I saw first-hand has been exposed
Now the public can see for the first time the true scale of the ineptitude of the British state, through two successive governments, concerning Afghanistan.
Even after the loss of 457 British personnel, and the billions of pounds it cost to prosecute, the war in Afghanistan reveals yet another cataclysmic skeleton in the cupboard when it comes to how we have treated our Afghan allies.
It is mind-boggling that the Ministry of Defence (MoD) could email a spreadsheet of all those with ties to the British state to an Afghan national, over the internet, to post on Facebook for the Taliban to see.
But not for me.
Whilst there will no doubt be a rush to blame the individual who sent it (I know who he is), it would be entirely unfair and wrong to do so. Because I can honestly say this whole farcical process has been the most hapless display of ineptitude by successive ministers and officials that I saw in my time in government, of which this poor individual was just the end of the line.
I was subject to the injunction. I created and ran an Afghan task force to work rehome eligible Afghans under Rishi Sunak, the then prime minister.
The Home Office, MoD, Department for Levelling Up and the Foreign Office just could not seem to work together; the prime minister asked me to try and unblock it from my neutral position in the Cabinet Office.
I had also made no secret of my desire to relocate Afghan special forces personnel from that country to this, in the wake of August 2021.
I stand by that wholeheartedly. These brave souls fought alongside us cheek by jowl; they carried stretchers of dead UK soldiers; they fought hard and battled bravely. But there were only ever about 1,000-1,200 badged members of CF 333 and CF444. I couldn't understand where all these Afghans were coming from.
Everyone seemed to know about it
I had no idea why the injunction existed in the first place; the list had appeared on Facebook and everyone, including the media, seemed to know about it. Officials seemed to get a bit of a kick out of something being 'Top Secret'. I thought it was weird, and it wasn't a secret.
It was a direct result of the chaos that engulfed the MoD at the end of the Afghanistan war.
Those on the ground during Op Pitting saw awful things, were incredibly brave and saved thousands of lives. I also saw how hard Ben Wallace worked to do the right thing.
But since then it has been awful. The MoD has tried at every turn to cut off those from Afghan special forces units from coming to the UK, for reasons I cannot fathom.
They also lied to themselves about doing it. The UK's director of Special Forces told me personally that he was offended and angry by my suggestion that his organisation was blocking the Triples.
Certain MoD ministers had a criminal lack of professional curiosity as to why the Triples were being rejected when there were so many subject matter experts who said they clearly should be eligible.
They even tried for a long time to say that Afghan special forces were not eligible.
When I contradicted them, one 'friend' made an official complaint to the Cabinet Office permanent secretary about me not being 'collegiate', or going along with government policy.
I had to inform them that they were directly lying to Parliament, and any statement I made publicly would repeat that. I think the whips told him to piss off too after he went moaning to them about me.
And the net result of this spectacular cluster is that we've let into this country thousands with little or tenuous links to the UK, and still some Afghan special forces we set up the bloody schemes for, remain trapped in Afghanistan, Pakistan or worse, Iran.
I feel furious, sad and bitter about the whole thing, and do as much as I can to get through each day not thinking about Afghanistan.
But some don't have that luxury. Naveed, a sergeant from Commando Force 333, a partnering unit of Task Force 42, a British SBS Task Force who I was with in Afghanistan in 2008-09, thinks about it every day.
Every day his comrades still reach out to him, thinking I can do something about it. His parents and immediate family, despite being under significant threat, remain in Afghanistan, three times rejected from resettlement pathways.
I am ashamed of the MoD and how they have acted on these schemes for three years now. I don't think it is a conspiracy surrounding the Afghan inquiry – that sort of thing requires a level of competence I have never seen in either UK Special Forces or the MoD.
Even now, there are brave folk in Afghanistan who soldiered alongside elite troops from this country prosecuting the highest level of UK objectives in Afghanistan, who are still hiding from the Taliban.
I secured a review of all Afghan special forces applications after I pointed out that they were all being rejected in February 2024. It was supposed to take 12 weeks. Seventy-nine weeks later that review is yet to report. I've promised Naveed I will get his family too.
Short of hiring a Land Rover and going for it, I'm running out of ideas.
