Letters: The agony of the forgotten Australians

A glimmer of hope

Sir: After the debacle of the West’s shambolic withdrawal from Afghanistan, it was comforting to read two of the articles in last week’s Spectator (28 August). The first was Rod Liddle’s explanation as to how we got there in the first place (‘I blame Tony Blair’) and the second was John Casey’s piece about Ahmad Massoud and the mention of his late father, the messianic Ahmad Shah Massoud (‘Fatherland’).

Very often out of a dire situation something positive can appear. It may be that the arrival of Ahmad Massoud as the leader of the National Resistance Front, the potential he has of being the head of the Tajiks, along with his understanding of Afghani divisions, will give Afghanistan the hope of a settled future.

Although I am both a dog lover and dog owner, my final thought is this: how did we arrive at the point where some of our nation believes the transport of rescue dogs to the UK is more important than ensuring our nationals, as well as those Afghan nationals who put their lives on the line, are repatriated to the UK?

John Wick

Worthing, West Sussex

Blair’s legacy

Sir: Rod Liddle is so right when he says that arrogance, naivety and ignorance underpinned the foreign policy which gave us the Iraq and Afghanistan disasters (‘I blame Tony Blair’, 28 August). The same can be applied to Blair’s policy on devolution, which created the conditions for the rise to prominence of nationalist politicians dedicated to the destruction of the Union. I too would like to see some contrition from a man whose strategic miscalculations have so obviously landed us in the mess we are now in.

Wishful drinking

Sir: I think Bruce Anderson (Drink, 28 August) had overindulged with the Palo Cortado Apóstoles if he thinks that Tony Blair is ‘the only person who makes sense’.