Tory MP Tom Tugendhat slams Joe Biden’s ‘shameful’ comments on Afghani soldiers
Senior Tory MP Tom Tugendhat has hit out at “shameful” comments made by Joe Biden on the efforts of Afghani soldiers defending the country from the Taliban.
The Foreign Affairs Committee chair, who served in Afghanistan, said “those who have never fought for the colours they fly should be careful about criticising those who have”.
The US President said on Monday that he took no responsibility for the desperate scenes in Afghanistan over the past few days and that “the Afghan military gave up, sometimes without trying to fight”.
Around 69,000 Afghani troops died fighting alongside American and British troops over the past 20 years.
An emotional Tugendhat told MPs that he had felt “anger and grief and rage” in the past week, along with “the feeling of abandonment of not just a country, but the sacrifice that my friends made”.
“I was never prouder than when I was decorated by the [US] 82nd airborne after the capture of Musa Qala. It was a huge privilege, a huge privilege to be recognised by such an extraordinary unit in combat,” he said.
“To see their commander in chief call into question the courage of men I fought with, to claim they ran. It’s shameful.
“Those who have never fought for the colours they fly should be careful about criticising those who have.”
Biden announced in May that he would stick with a decision made by Donald Trump last year to completely pull out of Afghanistan by this year.
Every US soldier will be removed from Afghanistan by 31 August, after almost 20 years of military presence in the central Asian country.
Barack Obama’s former special representative for Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke revealed that Biden said when Vice President that he wanted to pull troops out of Afghanistan 10 years ago.
Holbrooke said he raised concerns about the safety of women and girls if the US pulled out of Afghanistan, with Biden replying: ““F*ck that, we don’t have to worry about that. We did it in Vietnam, Nixon and Kissinger got away with it.”
The Taliban were able to re-take the country in a little more than one week, invading the Presidential Palace on Sunday and declaring the war over.
The extremist Islamist group have declared they will be more liberal than when they last ran the country, however there have already been reports of executions and girls as young as 12 being taken as sex slaves.