Afghanistan and Defence Secretary’s pain as Taliban seize control – The Yorkshire Post says

A decorated soldier mentioned in dispatches for his role in the capture of IRA terrorists in Northern Ireland in 1992, this was a motivation for his decision to enter politics.

Afghanistan: Why victory for the Taliban is a threat to the world - The Yorkshire Post says

Aware of the societal hardship facing many of the young men that he had the privilege to command, he committed himself to campaigning to create a more aspirational society.

And he was, in fact, a member of the Scottish Parliament when al-Qaida hijacked four aeroplanes in the United States on September 11, 2001, with two crashing into the iconic Twin Towers in New York.

Now, 20 years later, it is Mr Wallace’s duty to preside over Britain final withdrawal after a desperate struggle to uphold the now ironically-named Operation Enduring Freedom. Its objective was to prevent the Taliban from providing a safe haven for al-Qaida, then led by Osama bin Laden, to launch acts of terror against the world. Now the grave fear is that history will repeat itself.

No wonder Mr Wallace was unable to hide his emotions when he conceded that Britain’s airlift will be too late for some UK nationals, and local allies, amid desperate scenes at Kabul International Airport as Afghans clung to moving planes in the vain hope of escaping their country and reports that the Taliban were already clamping down on the human rights of women.

After all, he was speaking as both a former soldier acutely aware of the inherent dangers and as a senior Cabinet Minister who has felt powerless to question the haste – and timing – of President Joe Biden’s decision to pull US forces out of Afghanistan just weeks before such a sensitive anniversary.

As Mr Wallace, too, reflects on the sacrifices of the 457 British service personnel killed in Afghanistan, and all those, like Doncaster’s heroic former paratrooper Ben Parkinson who suffered life-changing injuries when a roadside bomb was detonated, his presence at the Ministry of Defence at this time is a reassuring one.

Like the Defence Secretary, our immediate thoughts are with all those British forces who are overseeing the Kabul evacuation in the most invidious of circumstances. Their courage, bravery and professionalism is a credit to them – and this country.

But they, like us, will also be expecting Boris Johnson to use the recall of Parliament to spell out his foreign policy intentions when the speed of events has taken Downing Street by surprise and left the Prime Minister’s ‘Global Britain’ mantra looking even more hollow as the resulting refugee crisis grows.

As recently as July 8, he told MPs that the UK would use its “best endeavours” to “produce a negotiated settlement”. Six weeks later, this miscalculation risks destroying all the painstaking progress made to advance Afghanistan and empower women; fuelling hatred against all those who practice the Islam faith and undermining the West’s reputation as an upholder of liberty.

As Diane Dernie, the mother of the remarkable Ben Parkinson, put it: “What on earth was it all for?” That is the telling question which now falls to the Prime Minister – and President Biden – to answer.

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