British veterans and what next for Afghanistan (E398)

The ignominious collapse of the huge Western military, political, and economic operation in Afghanistan is unfolding before our eyes. The Taliban now sit in the president’s chair; the president fled to the UAE; the government, on which so much money was spent, and the army of 300,000 Afghan national soldiers – equipped with, as Joe Biden said, the best weapons which can be found anywhere in the world – fell like a house of cards. That is the big picture, but what about the smaller picture? Jim Davidson is one of the funniest men in Britain, but he is deadly serious about standing up for army veterans. We invited him onto Sputnik to tell us about the soldiers who served in Afghanistan and the impact this withdrawal is having on them.

A statement from Moscow this week said they made a very big failure in Afghanistan, but the Americans appear to have made an even bigger one. It may have been said with tongue firmly in cheek, but it is at the very least arguable that the collapse of the American-backed Afghan National Army, the government, and the chaotic scenes from Kabul Airport are less well-managed than the previous Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan. Mark Sleboda is an international affairs and security analyst, and we invited him to look back and forward on what the failures mean for the world.

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