London. August 13. INTERFAX-The head of the British Defense Ministry, Ben Wallace, criticized the withdrawal of Washington's military contingent from Afghanistan, saying that the international community is likely to suffer from the consequences of this US decision, Sky News reported on Friday.
"I think that it was a mistake to act in this way (to withdraw troops - IF). And that we, the international community, will pay for the consequences of this mistake," Wallace said.
According to him, since the United States, which led the international coalition in Afghanistan, made this decision to withdraw forces, it meant that the other countries whose troops were on the territory of this country had to do the same. However, now Wallace fears that the Al-Qaeda terrorist group (banned in the Russian Federation) will return to Afghanistan, as the security situation there is deteriorating day by day.
"Of course, I am concerned, I feel that now is not the right time for this decision, because Al-Qaeda will probably return, "he said.
The British Defense Minister also called the inter-Afghan agreement reached by the United States and the Taliban (banned in the Russian Federation) in Qatar in 2020, when former US President Donald Trump promised to withdraw troops, a mistake. Wallace stressed that, in his opinion, it was that agreement that allowed the Taliban to believe that they could seize the initiative and win a military victory in Afghanistan.
The current US President Joe Biden, who took office in January of this year, continued the policy of his predecessor in office, retaining all the terms of the withdrawal of troops, Sky News notes.
"The United States is leaving (from Afghanistan-IF), and we are leaving with them, and this creates a very, very big problem in this country with the Taliban (banned in the Russian Federation), which obviously uses the initiative, and this is not something that we would like. And I tried to understand after the announcement (of the withdrawal of troops-IF), whether we will be able to gather the international community. But I'm afraid that the community is not interested in this," he added.
