A failure to bring the Taliban into a political settlement for Afghanistan was a key reason why the hardline group was able to topple the Western-backed Afghan government last summer, the UK’s former ambassador to Kabul said.
Laurie Bristow, who helped supervise the Kabul airlift last August as the Taliban seized the country, also said the West had not understood well enough how the loyalty of soldiers could be built in the context of Afghanistan. He was speaking in relation to the collapse of the Nato-trained Afghan military, and the soldiers who stood down and did not fight the Taliban as it rapidly took over Afghanistan.
“I think that at the end of the day what we didn't succeed in doing in those 20 years, was to find a way to bring the Taliban into the future of Afghanistan,” Mr Bristow told a webinar hosted by the Bright Blue think tank.
“They’re Afghans. They don't represent all Afghans, they don't represent all of Afghan society. But they're an important constituency.
“And I think if I wanted to identify — perhaps you could call it a mistake — our biggest mistake was not to find ways of bringing them into a political settlement,” said Mr Bristow.
After the fall of the Afghan capital last August, and with the Taliban outside the gates of Kabul’s airport, Mr Bristow led the evacuation of British nationals and vulnerable Afghan citizens. The efforts of him and his team were widely praised.
Mr Bristow said there had been many Afghan soldiers who had fought very hard and courageously in the face of the Taliban advance. But he also conceded that others had laid down their arms “and went over to the Taliban”.
“I think looking back on it, one of the things that led to that — and if we're looking at our own role in this — we had not understood well enough how loyalty is built in a situation of that sort.
“If you're trying to create a national army that can stand up to the Taliban, where does its loyalties lie? Do its loyalties lie to a central government? Do they lie with a local leader? Do they lie with their own community?
“Honestly, I don't think we ever really got a strong enough handle on that to build the Afghan national defence and security forces that were capable of standing up to the Taliban.”
But Mr Bristow also said the Taliban had run an effective propaganda and military campaign, which convinced some soldiers to lay down their arms and isolated parts of Afghanistan.
It Was Just an Accident
Director: Jafar Panahi
Stars: Vahid Mobasseri, Mariam Afshari, Ebrahim Azizi, Hadis Pakbaten, Majid Panahi, Mohamad Ali Elyasmehr
Rating: 4/5
Roll%20of%20Honour%2C%20men%E2%80%99s%20domestic%20rugby%20season
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In-demand jobs and monthly salaries
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Brolliology: A History of the Umbrella in Life and Literature
By Marion Rankine
Melville House
The biog
Name: Fareed Lafta
Age: 40
From: Baghdad, Iraq
Mission: Promote world peace
Favourite poet: Al Mutanabbi
Role models: His parents
'The Lost Daughter'
Director: Maggie Gyllenhaal
Starring: Olivia Colman, Jessie Buckley, Dakota Johnson
Rating: 4/5
RESULTS
5pm: Sweihan – Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 (Turf) 2,200m
Winner: Shamakh, Fernando Jara (jockey), Jean-Claude Picout (trainer)
5.30pm: Al Shamkha – Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 1,200m
Winner: Daad, Dane O’Neill, Jaber Bittar
6pm: Shakbout City – Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 1,200m
Winner: AF Ghayyar, Tadhg O’Shea, Ernst Oertel
6.30pm: Wathba Stallions Cup – Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 (T) 1,200m
Winner: Gold Silver, Sandro Paiva, Ibrahim Aseel
7pm: Masdar City – Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 1,400m
Winner: AF Musannef, Tadhg O’Shea, Ernst Oertel
7.30pm: Khalifa City – Maiden (TB) Dh80,000 (T) 1,400m
Winner: Ranchero, Patrick Cosgrave, Bhupat Seemar
PROFILE OF STARZPLAY
Date started: 2014
Founders: Maaz Sheikh, Danny Bates
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment/Streaming Video On Demand
Number of employees: 125
Investors/Investment amount: $125 million. Major investors include Starz/Lionsgate, State Street, SEQ and Delta Partners
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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The Bio
Name: Lynn Davison
Profession: History teacher at Al Yasmina Academy, Abu Dhabi
Children: She has one son, Casey, 28
Hometown: Pontefract, West Yorkshire in the UK
Favourite book: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Favourite Author: CJ Sansom
Favourite holiday destination: Bali
Favourite food: A Sunday roast
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
What are the main cyber security threats?
Cyber crime - This includes fraud, impersonation, scams and deepfake technology, tactics that are increasingly targeting infrastructure and exploiting human vulnerabilities.
Cyber terrorism - Social media platforms are used to spread radical ideologies, misinformation and disinformation, often with the aim of disrupting critical infrastructure such as power grids.
Cyber warfare - Shaped by geopolitical tension, hostile actors seek to infiltrate and compromise national infrastructure, using one country’s systems as a springboard to launch attacks on others.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
