Afghanistan

The loss of Afghanistan to the Taliban is prompting a political crisis in Westminster, with MPs called back to parliament later this week. 

We speak to former foreign secretary David Miliband, who’s now president of the International Rescue Committee, the humanitarian relief organisation.

Much of the blame for the fall of Afghanistan is being laid at the door of the Biden administration. 

We spoke to Abdullah Anas. He’s a former mujahideen, who fought alongside Osama bin Laden against the Russians, but split with him when bin Laden formed Al-Qaeda. 

The Taliban are reported to have a saying: “You have the watches, we have the time”. They have waited patiently to return to power in Afghanistan, and for the patience and will of their enemies to run out. But have they changed in that time? 

We spoke to James Heappey, who’s the minister for the Armed Forces, and asked him how he responded when he saw the chaotic scenes at Kabul airport.

Jawed Ludin was a former Afghan deputy foreign minister, spokesperson and chief of staff under President Hamid Karzai.

It’s a chilling image – dozens of people so desperate to escape Afghanistan that they cling to a US plane as it moves along the runway. 

So what strategy can the international community now grasp from the wreckage of comprehensive defeat. 

Operation Enduring Freedom the Americans called it. 

I’ve also been speaking to the Afghan journalist, Bilal Sarwari who is in Kabul.  

Earlier today I spoke to Farzana Kochai, an Afghan MP who has chosen to stay in Kabul. I asked her what life’s like in the city now.

Tonight all the latest from the capital where Taliban statements about remaining at the edge of the city have evidently been ignored by their own men. 

I’ve also been speaking to the Labour MP and mayor of South Yorkshire, Dan Jarvis. 

Fawzia Koofi is a peace negotiator and former Afghan member of parliament. She’s survived a number of assassination attempts during her career fighting for women’s rights in Afghanistan.