Boris is no Afghan hound — this was a crucial mission, not a cowardly ruse

IT IS time to come to the defence of the much-maligned Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, who has been accused of engineering a last-minute trip to Afghanistan in a cowardly ruse to avoid Monday’s vote on a third runway for Heathrow Airport.

These accusations are deeply unfair and wrong. Bear in mind that during his trip, Johnson met President Ghani, as well as the American General John Nicholson, the senior Nato officer in charge of training the Afghan military. Such meetings cannot be arranged at a moment’s notice. They require weeks, if not months, of careful planning.

There are complex diplomatic protocols as well as life-and-death security issues which must be dealt with before any senior politician can fly into a country as dangerous as Afghanistan.

Furthermore, there was a great deal at stake in Mr Johnson’s visit. The British government is deciding whether to grant the request from Nato and President Trump for it to deploy a further 400 or so troops to Afghanistan to help with training.

Mr Johnson has a duty to meet those in charge of this mission before committing our precious soldiers to it — especially since our armed forces are so few in number.

In a sane world, Boris would have come under criticism had he NOT flown to Afghanistan.