Letters: The clock is ticking in Afghanistan

Out of Afghanistan

Sir: Boyd Tonkin’s review of Anna Aslanyan’s Dancing on Ropes highlights the post-war abandonment of local Afghan and Iraqi interpreters by the US and UK (Books, 17 July). The UK’s response, up until last summer, deserved every bit of Tonkin’s strictures but the past year has seen a ‘strategic shift’. Ben Wallace and Priti Patel were clearly determined to change our approach and to give sanctuary to our former staff. More generous regulations were introduced in December and April but the imminent withdrawal of Nato forces now raises the fearful prospect of a Taleban takeover, or Taleban-induced paralysis of the Afghan government, before the necessary evacuation can take place.

There is still a window of maybe two to three months in which to act but we will be pushed to succeed: more resources are required, still greater flexibility is essential to remove remaining excluded categories, and there needs to be a robust ‘what if’ plan. The US has already started to plan
an evacuation of the 18,000 Afghans who are potentially eligible for the US scheme to a third country for processing; we need to be prepared to do the same.

Genuine credit is due to this government for finally grasping the nettle but ‘too little too late’ may still be how it is judged unless we can match the demand at the pace required. As for President Joe Biden, whose rapid withdrawal has caused this immediate crisis, I fear ‘Afghanistan’ will be found engraved on his heart, as ‘Calais’ was on Queen Mary I’s.

Simon Diggins OBE, Colonel (Retired)

Rickmansworth

Platonic relationship

Sir: Adrian Wooldridge’s article on Benjamin Jowett (‘Rhodes to redemption’, 17 July) is interesting on his possible intersexuality but fails to mention one of the achievements for which he is best remembered: his translation of Plato.