London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Sep 18, 2025

UK planned for NATO-led force of ‘like-minded’ allies to remain in Afghanistan after US troop pullout, defence minister admits

UK planned for NATO-led force of ‘like-minded’ allies to remain in Afghanistan after US troop pullout, defence minister admits

Slamming the US-Taliban peace deal as “rotten” and “flawed”, UK Defence Minister Ben Wallace has revealed that Britain tried to form a military coalition of “like-minded” allies to support Afghan forces after American troops left.

However, “nearly all” of the NATO member states were apparently “not interested” in staying in Afghanistan after US withdrawal from the country this year – as per the terms of the February 2020 peace agreement that was expected to end more than 18 years of conflict.

The deal – struck by the Trump administration and continued by US President Joe Biden – stipulated the pullout of US and NATO troops, among other conditions. But Wallace told the Daily Mail that it would lead to the Taliban returning to power – and another military campaign for British troops.

"The deal was a rotten deal, it is flawed.... It saddens me that the deal picked apart a lot of what had been achieved in Afghanistan over 20 years. We’ll probably be back in 10 or 20 years. But acting now is not possible. The damage was done with the deal."


In recent months, there has been a spate of violence in Afghanistan as Taliban fighters have mounted an offensive and reportedly reclaimed large portions of the country from Afghan security forces.

Under the deal, the Taliban agreed not to attack Western troops. It has apparently abided by this condition. While the troop drawdown was scheduled to be complete by the symbolic date of September 11, it is said to be effectively completed.

However, Wallace has now claimed that the UK tried to plug this vacuum by proposing that a NATO-led coalition lend support to Afghan forces.

“We tried a number of like-minded nations. Some said they were keen, but their parliaments weren’t. It became apparent pretty quickly that without the US as the framework nation it had been, these options were closed off,” Wallace told the paper.

For a time, he added, the government considered going it alone but decided that “putting a force” into Afghanistan “was not viable” since that unilateral intervention would require the UK “take ourselves out of a lot of other places around the world.”

Claiming that the deal with the Taliban had spurred the group to fight on, Wallace stated that it was an indictment of NATO’s lack of long-term vision and had “again... exposed [Western countries] as thinking you fix problems, not manage problems.”

“All of us were saddened, from the prime minister down, about all the blood and treasure that had been spent, that this was how it was ending,” Wallace said.

Two decades after being toppled in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, the Taliban reportedly controls more than half of the country and is attempting to wrest control of dozens of other provinces.

In the absence of a ceasefire and power-sharing agreement, there have been concerns that the country could be heading for a long-drawn civil war.

Over the weekend, General Richard Barrons, former head of UK Joint Forces Command, told the BBC that the West had “sold the future of Afghanistan into a very difficult place” and described the withdrawal as a “strategic mistake”.

“We will run the risk of terrorist entities reestablishing in Afghanistan, to bring harm in Europe and elsewhere.... I think this is a very poor strategic outcome,” Barrons said.

One of the conditions of the 2020 peace deal was that the Taliban prevent terror outfits from operating in the country.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Macron and his wife to provide 'scientific photographic evidence' that she is a real woman
US Tech Giants Pledge Billions to UK AI Infrastructure Following Starmer's Call
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
DeepMind and OpenAI Achieve Gold at ‘Coding Olympics’ in AI Milestone
SEC Allows Public Companies to Block Investors from Class-Action Lawsuits
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Federal Reserve Cuts Rates by Quarter Point and Signals More to Come
Effective and Impressive Generation Z Protest: Images from the Riots in Nepal
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Trump: Cancel quarterly company reports and settle for reporting once every six months
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
US Launches New Pilot Program to Accelerate eVTOL Air Taxi Deployment
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Hong Kong Industry Group Calls for HK$20 Billion Support Fund to Ease Property Market Stress
Joe Biden’s Post-Presidency Speaking Fees Face Weak Demand amid Corporate Reluctance
Charlie Kirk's murder will break the left's hateful cancel tactics
Kash Patel erupts at ‘buffoon’ Sen. Adam Schiff over Russiagate: ‘You are the biggest fraud’
Homeland Security says Emmy speech ‘fanning the flames of hatred’ after Einbinder’s ‘F— ICE’ remark
Charlie Kirk’s Alleged Assassin Tyler Robinson Faces Death Penalty as Charges Formally Announced
Actor, director, environmentalist Robert Redford dies at 89
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
JD Vance Says There Is “No Unity” with Those Who Celebrate Charlie Kirk’s Killing, and he is right!
Trump sues the 'New York Times' for an astronomical sum of 15 billion dollars
Florida Hospital Welcomes Its Largest-Ever Baby: Annan, Nearly Fourteen Pounds at Birth
U.S. and Britain Poised to Finalize Over $10 Billion in High-Tech, Nuclear and Defense Deals During Trump State Visit
China Finds Nvidia Violated Antitrust Laws in Mellanox Deal, Deepens Trade Tensions with US
US Air Force Begins Modifications on Qatar-Donated Jet Amid Plans to Use It as Air Force One
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
Elon Musk Retakes Lead as World’s Richest After Brief Ellison Surge
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
London Daily Podcast: London Massive Pro Democracy Rally, Musk Support, UK Economic Data and Premier League Results Mark Eventful Weekend
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Musk calls for new UK government at huge pro-democracy rally in London, but Britons have been brainwashed to obey instead of fighting for their human rights
Elon Musk responds to post calling for the murder of Erika Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk: 'Either we fight back or they will kill us'
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
USA: Office Depot Employees Refused to Print Poster in Memory of Charlie Kirk – and Were Fired
Proposed U.S. Bill Would Allow Civil Suits Against Judges Who Release Repeat Violent Offenders
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
French Debt Downgrade Piles Pressure on Macron’s New Prime Minister
US and UK Near Tech, Nuclear and Whisky Deals Ahead of Trump Trip
One in Three Europeans Now Uses TikTok, According to the Chinese Tech Giant
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
NATO Deploys ‘Eastern Sentry’ After Russian Drones Violate Polish Airspace
Anesthesiologist Left Operation Mid-Surgery to Have Sex with Nurse
×