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Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government

Afghanistan: From Great Game to Blame Game

Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government

Institute for Government

News, Politics, Government

4.6252 Ratings

🗓️ 3 September 2021

⏱️ 36 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The Western intervention in Afghanistan has petered out in ignominy. Who will carry the can for Britain’s biggest foreign policy disaster in half a century? As the Foreign Office and MoD squabble, is Dominic Raab telling the truth when he blames military intelligence for this fiasco? And what does an introverted America mean for NATO and the security of the West? We look at the fallout with special guests Dan Sabbagh, The Guardian’s Defence and Security Editor, and Lucy Fisher, Deputy Political Editor at the Daily Telegraph and former Defence Editor at the Times.  “The West is completely shellshocked by America’s decision to withdraw on its own timetable… This has huge repercussions for NATO which is already hanging by a thread.” – Lucy Fisher  “If Britain had decided to commit more troops as America leaves, would the British people really have gone for it?” – Dan Sabbagh “The raw intelligence was absolutely correct, that the Taliban would be fast and ruthless But as it went up the food chain it went wildly wrong.” – Lucy Fisher “There are two ways the intelligence could have got diluted. One is overt politicisation, the other is treating it as TOO authoritative.” – Alex Thomas “My jaw was on the floor when I read that Raab and his senior team had not made a single call to the Afghan or Pakistani foreign ministries in six months.” – Lucy Fisher “There’s a clear winner here – Ben Wallace and the MoD – and a clear loser, Dominic Raab and the Foreign Office.” – Dan Sabbagh Presented by Bronwen Maddox with Alex Thomas. Audio production by Alex Rees. Inside Briefing is a Podmasters Production for the IfG.  https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hello and welcome to Inside Briefing, the podcast from the Institute for Government.

0:15.0

I'm Bronwyn Maddox.

0:16.4

The war in Afghanistan is now over.

0:19.0

So said President Joe Biden this week as the last American troops returned home almost 20 years to the day after the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan and the overthrow of the Taliban.

0:29.6

That mission, Biden insists, has been a success. But has it, really? The Western-backed Afghan government collapsed within days after all those 20 years

0:38.7

of effort. Taliban are back in power. That's 20 years of effort more than $65 billion of direct aid.

0:46.2

From the US alone, $2 trillion of spending, all that gone in days. The evacuation of international

0:52.7

troops and those who'd helped the alliance

0:54.4

veered from the shambolic to the calamitous. The future for many Afghans, particularly women,

0:59.5

is looking deeply alarming, and the blame game in Britain and beyond is raging. So what happens now?

1:06.2

Well, joining me to look at the extraordinary events of what has hardly been a quiet summer

1:10.6

month is a panel who've got the inside track on how government operates during times of me to look at the extraordinary events of what has hardly been a quiet summer month,

1:11.4

is a panel who've got the inside track on how government operates during times of international

1:15.4

crisis and how major decisions on defence, security and foreign affairs are taken.

1:20.5

Alex Thomas is our program director for all things to do with the civil service and a former

1:23.8

official at the Cabinet office.

1:25.5

Hi, Alex.

1:26.1

Hello, Bromond.

1:26.8

And I'm delighted that we're joined by Dan Saber,

1:28.9

defense and security editor at The Guardian,

1:30.9

and Lucy Fisher,

1:32.0

deputy political editor at the Daily Telegraph

...

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