Afghanistan withdrawal: did the Foreign Office fail in its response?
Testimony of former desk officer said prioritising of applicants was ‘arbitrary and dysfunctional’
The rapid withdrawal of Nato forces from Afghanistan in August is widely considered to have been a “disastrous decision, incompetently executed”, said The Times. But it took the testimony of a 25-year-old former desk officer, Raphael Marshall, to expose in “excruciating detail” just how badly the UK Foreign Office failed in its response.
Marshall told the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee last week that between 75,000 and 150,000 Afghans applied to be evacuated on the grounds of a connection to the UK. Yet less than 5% received help, and some of those left behind have since been murdered.
At times Marshall was the only member of his team working on the desk as desperate emails flooded in. Thousands went unprocessed and unanswered. The prioritising of applicants, he said, was “arbitrary and dysfunctional”. It was a “damning indictment”, said Ross Clark in the Daily Mail – perhaps the most damning “ever produced” about the modern civil service.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The bureaucratic mess “would be comic if it were not so plainly tragic”, said Andrew Hill in the FT. Many emails were flagged as “read” but then simply ignored. Communications were hampered by so many staff working from home, and the organisation’s dogged insistence on an eight-hour day for “work-life balance”. Nor was there any urgency at the top: the then foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, and the Foreign Office’s top civil servant, Philip Barton, both stayed on holiday as “the crisis deepened”.
I was in Kabul at the time, said Kim Sengupta in The Independent. British soldiers and officials, working non-stop, told applicants not to panic because the UK had “a system in place” to get them out. But now we see how “flawed” that system was.
The Government disputed Marshall’s account, but not convincingly, said Rafael Behr in The Guardian. It did not deny, for instance, that some night-shifts went unmanned. Raab emerges as an “indecisive control freak” who was painfully slow to make urgent decisions. Marshall testified that when Boris Johnson did intervene, it was to help evacuate animals rescued by a charity run by Paul “Pen” Farthing, rather than Afghans. (This was also denied, although Johnson’s then parliamentary aide did authorise the flight.)
There are, of course, long-standing flaws in the civil service, but it seems increasingly that the Johnson Government takes “administrative dysfunction to a new level”, whether over Covid-19 or Afghanistan. The “terrible price” of its complacency is “still being paid by Afghans who called to Britain for sanctuary and got no answer”.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Why are people and elephants fighting in Sri Lanka?
Under The Radar Farmers encroaching into elephant habitats has led to deaths on both sides
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
Indie film's 'very brief' use of AI sparks backlash and calls for boycotts
Talking Points Did the creators of a new horror movie make a deal with the artificial intelligence devil?
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Could Taylor Swift swing the election?
Today's Big Question The pop star has outsized influence — and that extends beyond the music industry
By Anya Jaremko-Greenwold Published
-
Vaughan Gething: a new leader for Wales
Talking point Former minister for the economy tasked with revitalising struggling country after being elected First Minister
By The Week UK Published
-
Olaf Scholz vs. Emmanuel Macron: an ancient animosity
Under the radar The German chancellor and French president's relationship has been productive, but Ukraine war has put it under strain
By The Week UK Published
-
Will Aukus pact survive a second Trump presidency?
Today's Big Question US, UK and Australia seek to expand 'game-changer' defence partnership ahead of Republican's possible return to White House
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
Farewell to Theresa May: a PM consumed by Brexit
Talking Point Maidenhead MP standing down at next general election
By The Week UK Published
-
Iran at the crossroads: have the mullahs lost their grip?
In Depth Iranian voters delivered a 'stinging rebuke' to the regime in parliamentary elections
By The Week UK Published
-
No escape from evil
Opinion Why it's not possible to flee politics and the news
By William Falk Published
-
Russia's 'grey zone' tactics in Finland’s snowy forests
Under the radar Tensions have risen between the two countries ever since Finland applied to join Nato last May
By The Week UK Published
-
Shamima Begum: no way home
Talking point The embattled former Londoner has been in Syria since February 2015
By The Week UK Published