Afghanistan Withdrawal: Should The UK Return To The Country?

The UK should lead an international coalition and return to Afghanistan to "prevent civil war", says Chair of the Defence Select Committee Tobias Ellwood.

The UK's former most senior commander in Afghanistan agrees Britain could return as part of a larger NATO force.

General Lord Richards also says the UK withdrew its troops with no strategy for keeping the country stable. 

The comments come as international forces have withdrawn from the country over the last three months.

Rocket and bomb attacks in Kabul have meant that even the presidential palace – the centrepiece of the Afghan State – is no longer safe.

The United States is still carrying out air strikes to support Afghan forces.

The Taliban is making huge advances in cities including Kandahar, Herat, and Lashkar Gah (in Helmand where British troops fought and died) as well as rural areas.

Mr Ellwood said on Twitter: "We should retain a 5,000-strong coalition force, enough to give legitimacy to the Afghan government and support to Afghan forces to contain/deter the Taliban.

"Otherwise we face a failed state."

Britain's most senior commander during the Afghan campaign agrees, telling Forces News: "This is entirely predictable, they needed Western support still. They were slowly getting there. They aren't doing that badly."

General Lord Richards, Former Commander ISAF in Afghanistan, continued: "To pull the plug on it prematurely at the very moment when they most needed us is beggars belief."

Cover image: MOD.