'Democracy can still return to Afghanistan', says Yorkshire Royal Marines veteran who lost three comrades in conflict

A former Royal Marine commando from Yorkshire has said he believes the 20 years spent by coalition forces in Afghanistan can eventually help bring back democracy to the country despite the “heartbreaking” situation at the moment.

Gareth Timmins, who is originally from Hemsworth in West Yorkshire and now lives in Pontefract, spent a year in the country in 2013 and earlier in the conflict, three of the colleagues he went through Royal Marines training with were killed in Afghanistan.

He said it has been extremely hard to witness the return of the Taliban in recent weeks but he hopes that the sacrifice of British soldiers will ultimately prove to have not been in vain.

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“It would be quite easy to look at these last two weeks and say it has been a complete disaster and how have we let this happen,” he said.

Gareth Timmins says it has been heartbreaking to watch the Taliban's return to power in Afghanistan - but he hopes the sacrifices of British soldiers have not been in vain. Picture: Jonathan GawthorpeGareth Timmins says it has been heartbreaking to watch the Taliban's return to power in Afghanistan - but he hopes the sacrifices of British soldiers have not been in vain. Picture: Jonathan Gawthorpe
Gareth Timmins says it has been heartbreaking to watch the Taliban's return to power in Afghanistan - but he hopes the sacrifices of British soldiers have not been in vain. Picture: Jonathan Gawthorpe

“But two generations of people have experienced freedom. It is too early to quantify what effect those 20 years had. I’m just hoping there will be some internal resistance and people will say we are not standing for this.

“The immediate future is incredibly grim. But during that 20 year period, we opened the cork on the bottle of freedom. It has obviously been put back on by the Taliban but people there don’t want that life.”

Foreign Office Minister James Cleverly has said it is impossible to estimate how many people eligible to come to the UK had been left behind after evacuation flights finished.

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About 15,000 British nationals and vulnerable Afghans had been evacuated from Afghanistan in a “herculean” effort, Mr Cleverly said, but Labour MPs have claimed to have been contacted by thousands who have been left behind. Mr Cleverly acknowledged some emails about desperate Afghans seeking to leave may not have been read in the Foreign Office as priority in the evacuation effort was given to people who could be processed and reach Kabul airport before the airlift ended.

Mr Timmins, who has recently released a book about his time training as a Royal Marines commando which is dedicated to his three fellow trainees who died in the conflict, worked in Kabul for a year in 2013 in a close protection role after leaving the Marines.

He said that it has been “absolutely tragic” to watch the Taliban return to power in recent weeks - knowing what it will mean for people living in the country.

“I spoke to a lot of drivers and interpreters and they all used to say was, ‘All we are worried about is that the Americans will leave us’. We would try and reassure them and say it is not going to happen because they have made such a big investment. Unfortunately that is exactly what they have done.

“The situation is absolutely heartbreaking.”

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He added: “We were on our way to creating a democracy and the equality the women were getting and have now lost is one of the most tragic aspects of it.”

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