Former Senior UK Military Commander Says Afghanistan Could Become Terrorist Base Again

Sir Richard Barrons said the withdrawal of British troops suggested ‘we don’t have the stomach to see these things through’. Photograph: Harland Quarrington/MoD/Crown Copyright/PA 

The Guardian: Afghanistan could become terrorist base again, UK general warns 

Sir Richard Barrons says withdrawal of western troops a 'strategic mistake’ as Taliban make territorial gains Afghanistan could once again become a base for international terrorism, according to a former senior UK military commander who has described the withdrawal of western troops as a “strategic mistake”. 

As the Taliban continued to make sweeping territorial gains, Gen Sir Richard Barrons warned that attacks in Europe could be the outcome of groups re-establishing themselves in the country. 

“I don’t believe it’s in our own interest – in making that decision to leave we’ve not only, I think, sold the future of Afghanistan into a very difficult place, we’ve also sent a really unfortunate message to the west’s allies in the Gulf and Africa and Asia,” he told BBC Radio 4’s The World This Weekend.  

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Update: This shabby and perilous retreat from Afghanistan could prove to be the West's worst own goal this century (Tobias Ellwood, Daily Mail).  

WNU Editor: Gen Sir Richard Barrons is not alone in voicing his concerns that Afghanistan could become a terrorist base again .... As the Taliban surges across Afghanistan, al-Qaeda is poised for a swift return (Greg Barton , The Conversation).