UK ‘to support orderly exit’ from Afghanistan

Foreign Secretary backs ‘orderly departure’ as Nato allies agree to pull out by US September deadline

Britain will “support an orderly departure of our forces” from Afghanistan as Nato withdraws from the country, Dominic Raab, the Foreign Secretary, said last night. It came as the military alliance said it would pull out alongside the United States by Sept 11. Nato said the withdrawal process would begin by May 1 and could be completed in just a few months. Addressing the American people, President Joe Biden said: “It’s time to end the forever war.”

‘We in Nato will leave together. Together we went into Afghanistan, now it is time to bring our forces home’

‘It’s time to end America’s longest war. It’s time for America’s troops to come home’

BRITAIN will “support an orderly departure of our forces” from Afghanistan as Nato withdraws from the country, Dominic Raab, the Foreign Secretary, said last night.

It comes as Nato said it would pull out alongside the United States by Sept 11.

Nato said the withdrawal process would begin by May 1 and could be completed in just a few months.

Mr Raab said: “We will support an orderly departure of our forces, whilst building up Afghanistan’s capacity for self-governance, and continuing counter-terrorism support – to protect the gains made over the last 20 years.”

In a statement Nato said: “Allies have determined that we will start the withdrawal by May 1. We plan to have the withdrawal of all forces completed within a few months.”

Last night US President Joe Biden said: “It’s time to end the forever war.”

Addressing the nation in the US, Mr Biden said: “I said we’d follow Osama bin Laden to the gates of Hell if need be. That’s exactly what we did and we got him. That was 10 years ago. Think about that.”

Meanwhile, the United States is putting pressure on Nato allies including Britain to get their remaining troops out of Afghanistan as quickly as possible.

Senior Officials in Mr Biden’s administration said the Pentagon was able to get its own force – currently around 3,500 – home “well in advance” of the new Sept 11 deadline set by the president.

But the US is delaying its withdrawal so that it can leave together with allies, including 750 British troops, who are reliant on American support.

A senior US administration official said the White House hoped to get allies out “in the same time frame” as its own troops. The drawdown would begin “before May 1” and Sept 11 was an “outside date” for completing it.

“President Biden will give our military commanders the time and space they need to conduct a safe and orderly withdrawal, not just of US forces but of allied forces, on the principle of ‘in together, out together’,” the official said. “We will take the time we need to execute that. And no more time than that.”

The US would “coordinate with Nato allies and partners about a drawdown of their forces in the same time frame.”

In February, Donald Trump’s administration agreed with the Taliban to withdraw US forces by May 1.

Asked if delaying until Sept 11 was to “help Nato troops get out”, a Biden administration official said: “Yes”.

The White House’s current hope was that the withdrawal would be completed “a meaningful amount of time before” Sept 11. How long before would depend on whether there was a surge in violence on the ground. A residual US military presence will remain to protect its embassy, although the final configuration of forces will not be decided until an assessment of security risks at the end of the drawdown.

Tony Blinken, the US secretary of state, told General Jens Stoltenberg, the Nato secretary general, they would “leave together”.

Mr Blinken, speaking in Brussels, said: “We in Nato will leave Afghanistan together. Together we went into Afghanistan, now it is time to bring our forces home.” A US official said: “We’re committing today to going to zero.”

Former defence minister Tobias Ellwood, the chairman of the defence select committee, said the US decision risked “losing the peace” and allowing extremism to “regroup”. It was “concerning” and “not the right move”.

But he said British forces had “no choice” but to leave due to the US’S “significant force protection capabilities from which we benefited”.

Mr Ellwood added: “Remaining allied forces are unable to fill that vacuum without upgrading our posture for which there is no political appetite.”

Annegret Kramp-karrenbauer, the German defence minister, said: “I am in favour of an orderly withdrawal.” Germany has 1,000 troops.

Mr Biden also said last night in an address to the nation: “It’s time to end America’s longest war. It’s time for America’s troops to come home.”

He said that it had become “increasingly unclear” what the reasons were for staying. Earlier, Mr Biden spoke with Ashraf Ghani, the president of Afghanistan, who said that he respected the US decision.

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