The British press is in a complete state of hysteria, as evidenced by the headlines reported in the BBC’s own blog. “Blair Attacks Biden’s ‘Imbecilic’ Retreat as Kabul Chaos Ceepens,” blares the Sunday Times. The Telegraph notes Blair’s attack on Biden, adding the subhead: “America shuts Kabul airport as Raab forced to turn to China and Russia for help in Afghanistan.” And on and on.
Blair, a member of the Queen’s Privy Council, rounded on Biden (as the Sunday Times puts it). “We didn’t need to do it,” he wrote yesterday. “We chose to do it. We did it in obedience to an imbecilic political slogan about ending ‘the forever wars’.” Biden used the term when he announced the withdrawal. Blair said: “For Britain, out of Europe and suffering the end of the Afghanistan mission by our greatest ally with little or no consultation ... we are at risk of relegation to the second division of global powers.”
The Sunday Times reports that “Ministers have warned that Britain will have to tear up its foreign policy after the debacle in Afghanistan, amid flaring tempers about America’s decision to cut and run.” The paper cites an unnamed minister who denounced American “isolationism” and said that the government would have to “revisit” the recent review on defense and foreign policy because the United States was no longer a reliable ally.
“America has just signalled to the world that they are not that keen on playing a global role,” the minister said. “The implications of that are absolutely huge. We need to get the integrated [policy] review out and reread it. We are going to have to do a hard-nosed revisit on all our assumptions and policies.”
Then the imperial “old sow” was let loose: “The U.S. had to be dragged kicking and screaming into the First World War. They turned up late for the Second World War and now they are cutting and running in Afghanistan,” was this minister’s conclusion.
The tensions have reportedly extended to the troops on the ground in Kabul. Military sources have also told MPs that as tensions rose last week, there were clashes with the U.S. on the ground and “heated words” between British and U.S. commanders at Kabul airport, including one “stand-up” row.
