UK lawmakers criticize ‘absence’ of Afghan evacuation plan

Britain’s withdrawal from Afghanistan was a “disaster and betrayal” hampered by a lack of leadership from senior politicians and civil servants, the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee said in a report released Tuesday.

The committee criticized the Foreign Office for the “total absence” of a plan for evacuating Afghans who supported the UK mission despite knowing for 18 months that such an evacuation might be necessary.

This was compounded by the fact that there seemed to be no clear lines of leadership among political leaders, with decisions made on the basis of “untraceable and unaccountable political interventions,” the committee said in its report.

“The fact that the Foreign Office’s senior leaders were on holiday when Kabul fell marks a fundamental lack of seriousness, grip or leadership at a time of national emergency,” the committee said.

The report was based on an eight-month inquiry during which the committee heard testimony from 20 witnesses and reviewed written evidence from 36 organizations.

Related Topics:absence Afghan criticize evacuation Featured Lawmakers Mena Plan UK

Up Next

Moscow not sure it needs resumed ties with West, will work on ties with China

Don't Miss

Beijing ramps up COVID-19 quarantine, Shanghai residents decry uneven rules

News

Netanyahu: I will not sit with the anti-Jewish Mansour Abbas

Today, Sunday, Benjamin Netanyahu, the leader of the Israeli opposition, announced his opposition to sitting with Mansour Abbas, head of the United Arab List, claiming that he is anti-Jewish.
And the Hebrew channel “The 12”, this evening, Sunday, quoted Netanyahu as saying that he was shocked by the statements of David Amsalem, a member of his Likud party, in which he said that if the party wins 61 seats to form a government, Netanyahu will agree to the unified list joining the ruling coalition under Netanyahu’s leadership.
“The Ra’im [United Arab List] party is anti-Semitic, anti-Zionist, and supports terrorism,” Netanyahu said.

יו"ר הליכוד @netanyahu על דברי ח"כ @dudiamsalem: "נדהמתי לשמוע את דבריו שאמר על דעתו בלבד – כפי שכבר קרה בעבר. רע״ם היא מפלגה אנטישמית אנטי-ציונית, תומכת טרור שמייצגת את האחים המוסלמים ששואפים להשמיד את ישראל. הליכוד בראשותי לא הסכים ולעולם לא יסכים להכניס את רע״ם לקואליציה"

— החדשות – N12 (@N12News) June 26, 2022

Netanyahu was not satisfied with that, but stressed that Mansour Abbas, the leader of the United Arab List, represented the “Muslim Brotherhood” group that seeks to destroy Israel, he said, adding that the Likud party under his leadership would never agree to include Ra’em in the coalition.
Netanyahu’s statements came against the backdrop of what Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid announced last Monday, that a bill to dissolve the Knesset would be proposed and voted on next week, in a step that is heading the country towards a fifth election in 3 and a half years.
Israeli reports indicated that the date set for holding these elections is next October 25.
During this period, Lapid will assume the position of prime minister in accordance with the rotation agreement, while Bennett will become the alternate prime minister and responsible for the Iranian file in that transitional government.

News

Seventeen people found dead in S.African nightclub

At least 17 young people were found dead at a nightclub in a township in South Africa’s southern city of East London on Sunday, police said.

“We got a report about 17 (people) that died in a local tavern in Scenery Park which is based in East London,” a provincial police chief brigadier Thembinkosi Kinana told AFP.

“We are still investigating the circumstances surrounding the incident,” he added.

He said the victims were aged between 18 and 20 years.

Unverified pictures shared on social media showed bodies with no visible signs of injuries, strewn on the floor of the club.

Local television showed police officers trying to calm down a crowd of people gathered outside the club in the city, which lies on the Indian Ocean coast, nearly 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) south of Johannesburg.

News

Explosions shake Kyiv’s center, fire at residential building – officials

Four explosions were heard in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv early Sunday, with AFP journalists reporting a residential complex near the center of the city had been hit, causing a fire and cloud of grey smoke.

The blasts occurred around 6:30 a.m. (0330 GMT), half an hour after air raid sirens sounded in the capital, which has not not come under Russian bombardment for nearly three weeks.

There was no immediate information on casualties.

An AFP colleague living in the same residential complex heard a loud buzz preceding the explosions.

“Several explosions in the Shevchenkivsky district,” Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram.

“Ambulances and rescuers are on site. In two buildings, the rescue and evacuation of residents is underway,” he added.

Thick smoke was seen in the affected residential area, which was cordoned off by police.

At the end of April, a Ukrainian journalist from Radio Liberty was killed in her apartment by a Russian strike on Kyiv during a visit by UN chief Antonio Guterres.