Dan Jarvis criticises 'catastrophic failure' of Afghanistan response amid fears for his 'brothers in arms'

With his voice appearing to break, Dan Jarvis told a full House of Commons that he “shudder[s] to think” about what may have happened to his “brothers in arms”, the Afghan people who served alongside him in Helmand Province.

Fears have been raised about the safety of those who assisted allied forces since as a result of the Taliban’s rapid rise in recent days and weeks.

“These past 20 years have been a struggle for peace - we tried to break the cycle of war, to give hope to women and girls,” Mr Jarvis said.

“We tried to give the Afghans a different life, one of hope and one of opportunity, but the catastrophic failure of international political leadership and the brutality of the Taliban has snatched all of that away from them.”

The MP for Barnsley Central also said that “Many of us who served in Afghanistan have a deep bond of affection for the Afghan people, and I had the honour of serving alongside them in Helmand.

“We trained together, fought together, and in some cases we died together, they were our brothers in arms.

“But I shudder to think where those men are now,” he added.

“Many will be dead, others I know now consider themselves to be dead men walking. Where were we in their hour of need, we were nowhere. That is shameful and it will have a very long lasting impact on Britain’s reputation right around the world.”

Former soldiers from across the Commons have contributed to the recall debate on Afghanistan, including Conservative Tom Tugendhat (Tonbridge and Malling) who was applauded following his emotive words.

Mr Tugendhat - who chairs the foreign affairs select committee - concluded his speech with a “harder” image of his time serving, when “a man whose name I never knew, carrying a child who had died hours earlier” came to his base “begging for help”.

“There was nothing we could do,” Mr Tugendhat said. “It was over. This is what defeat looks like when you no longer have the choice of how to help.

“This doesn’t need to be defeat but at the moment it damn well feels like it.”