Month: May 2022

The Foreign Affairs Committee said there had been “systemic failures” of intelligence, diplomacy, and planning.

“Mismanagement” of the evacuation as the Taliban quickly took over the country “likely cost lives”, MPs said.

The UK government said “intensive planning” went into the withdrawal.

A spokesperson for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office defended its handling of the withdrawal and said it would review and respond to the committee’s findings.

But the MPs who carried out the inquiry said they had lost confidence in the department’s top civil servant, Sir Philip Barton, and urged him to consider his position.

The report said Sir Philip, the then-Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab and Prime Minister Boris Johnson were all on leave when the Taliban took Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul.

“The fact that the Foreign Office’s senior leaders were on holiday when Kabul fell marks a fundamental lack of seriousness, grip or leadership at a time of national emergency,” the cross-party committee said.

Labour’s Shadow Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, said the report “highlights the scale of the government’s incompetence, laziness and mishandling” of the withdrawal.

“The Conservative government has badly let down Britain’s reputation on the global stage and those responsible for this calamity should be held accountable,” he said.

A coalition of international forces – led by the US – completed their withdrawal from Afghanistan on 30 August 2021, marking the end of the 20-year campaign in the Middle-Eastern country.

US-led forces went into Afghanistan in 2001, removing the Taliban from power in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, which were blamed on al-Qaeda – a militant jihadist group.

The UK sent forces but ended its combat operations in 2014, leaving hundreds of troops to help train the Afghan government’s army.

In February 2020, a withdrawal deal was signed by the Taliban and the US under former President Donald Trump and a year later his successor, Joe Biden, honoured the agreement.

As the US pulled out troops and reduced military support for the Afghan army, the Taliban made rapid territorial gains, reclaiming control of the whole country by mid-August.

“The UK’s part in this tragedy exposes a lack of seriousness in achieving co-ordination, a lack of clear decision-making, a lack of leadership and a lack of accountability,” said Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat, who chairs the Foreign Affairs Committee.

The report brings back the sense of horror and, for some, shame generated by last August’s traumatic evacuation from Kabul.

It was always inevitable that ministers and senior officials were going to be lambasted. During the committee’s hearings, MPs expressed their dismay that the Foreign Office’s top civil servant hadn’t seen fit to return from holiday until the civilian evacuation was over.

And it was clear that they found some of the answers they received evasive and unconvincing.

Some will argue that the speed of the Taliban’s takeover of the country could not have been anticipated and made planning for such a complex evacuation impossible without causing widespread panic.

It’s not an argument that cuts much ice with the MPs. They say there was plenty of time to make plans and that what happened was a betrayal that will haunt the UK’s international reputation for years.

In September 2021, the committee launched an inquiry to consider the role of the FCDO in the build-up to, during and after the withdrawal.

The committee published its findings on Tuesday in a report, which “identified systemic failures of intelligence, diplomacy, planning and preparation – many of which were due, at least in part, to the Foreign Office”.

In key findings, the report said:

On planning for withdrawal

On the evacuation

On the future relationship with Afghanistan

The UK airlifted about 15,000 Afghans and British nationals out of Kabul as the Taliban took control of the country. Thousands of staff from across the UK government and partners supported the evacuation effort.

“This was the biggest UK mission of its kind in generations and followed months of intensive planning and collaboration between UK government departments,” an FCDO spokesperson said.

“We are still working hard to assist the people of Afghanistan, having already helped over 4,600 individuals to leave the country since the end of the military evacuation.

“We carried out a thorough review to learn lessons from our withdrawal from Afghanistan and have drawn on many of the findings in our response to the conflict in Ukraine including introducing new systems for managing correspondence and increasing senior oversight of our operational and diplomatic response.”

Kaftancioglu, who heads the secular Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) Istanbul branch, smiled and waved to the cheering crowds.

She has received a criminal conviction for insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the Turkish state.

The 50 year old now faces a suspended prison sentence.

Some of the charges relate to messages published on Twitter 10 years ago.

Kaftancioglu has repeatedly said the charges are politically motivated.

She was involved in the CHP’s triumph in Istanbul’s mayoral election in 2019, defeating President Erdogan’s governing AK party.

President Erdogan has faced accusations from the West and human rights groups for his crackdown on the judiciary and other state bodies after a failed coup in 2016.

In 2019, Kaftancioglu was sentenced to nine years, eight months and 20 days in prison.

After an appeal the term was reduced to just under five years.

Under Turkish law, sentences of under five years are usually suspended.

Kaftancioglu was accused of “insulting” President Erdogan and the Turkish state in the posts, as well as “spreading terror propaganda”.

The charges related to 2013 anti-government protests and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

Mr Albanese’s Labor Party defeated Scott Morrison’s conservative government in an election on Saturday.

It remains unclear whether Mr Albanese will form a majority or govern with the support of crossbenchers.

The prime minister left for Tokyo on Monday to meet the leaders of the so-called Quad nations – the US, India and Japan.

Earlier in the day, he was sworn in with four key cabinet members, including new Foreign Minister Penny Wong, who is travelling with him to Japan.

Richard Marles is the new deputy prime minister and employment minister, Jim Chalmers is treasurer, and Katy Gallagher is attorney-general and finance minister.

It is Australia’s first Labor government in almost a decade. The party has won 72 lower house seats but counting continues to determine whether they can get the 76 needed to form a majority.

But the primary vote for both major parties fell – almost a third of Australians put the Greens, independents and other minor parties as their first preference.

The Quad group is seen as largely aiming to counter growing Chinese influence in the Indo-Pacific region.

It will meet on Tuesday following recent diplomatic tensions in the Pacific, after the Solomon Islands last month signed a security pact with China.

The US and Australia hold fears the deal could allow China to build a naval base there.

In a statement ahead of the meeting, Mr Albanese said: “The Quad Leaders’ Summit brings together four leaders of great liberal democracies – Australia, Japan, India, and the United States of America – in support of a free, open and resilient Indo-Pacific.”

Ms Wong – Australia’s first overseas-born foreign minister – signalled they would bring “new energy and much more to the table” on climate action, after “a lost decade”.

Climate change played a huge role in the election result, with a surge in support for candidates wanting urgent action.

Mr Morrison’s government had committed to a 2030 emissions reduction target of 26%-28% – about half that of the UK and US. Mr Albanese’s government has a target of 43%.

The Greens are expected to pick up four lower seats, adding to seven climate-focused independents. They could put pressure on Labor to take even stronger action, especially if it fails to reach a majority.

Mr Morrison’s unpopularity and his party’s stance on climate have been blamed by some Liberal MPs for wiping out their vote.

Losses included senior party figures, including deputy leader Josh Frydenberg, in traditional Liberal strongholds.

Mr Morrison stepped down as party leader on Saturday and former defence minister Peter Dutton is the favourite to succeed him.

Mr Dutton – from the party’s right – has been a controversial figure at times. Some question whether he could rebuild Liberal support in more progressive, metropolitan areas.

It’s been a busy few days for Mr Albanese. Since Saturday he has won an election, been sworn in as PM, and is now on his way to the Quad.

It’s fitting that Australia’s new leader would hit the ground running. There’s a lot to get to domestically and globally.

Mr Albanese has said the Quad alliance is an absolute priority for Australia. This meeting comes at a crucial and tense time in the region with a growing Chinese influence that’s making Australia and its allies nervous.

The recent China defence deal with the Solomon Islands is seen as a threat to Australia’s status as a strategic partner to Pacific nations. But there’s a fine balance Mr Albanese needs to strike.

He needs to address China’s expansion in the Indo-Pacific while also repairing a relationship with Beijing that’s fractured significantly since the beginning of the pandemic when Australia called for an investigation into the origins of the Covid virus.

China is now a very angry strategic trade partner. And the other Quad members will need to be reassured that Mr Albanese has a plan to manage the complicated relationship.

The prime minister says this trip is a chance for Australia to send a message globally that it is changing its approach on crucial policies such as climate change.

This is now being called the climate election. Mr Albanese wants to tell his allies and the world that under his leadership they’ll be dealing with a new and more globally-engaged Australia.

Seven people were killed by falling trees and a woman died when a boat capsized in the Ottawa River.

Wind gusts reached 82 mph (132km/h) during the storm, according to Environment Canada.

Power company Hydro One, which covers Ontario, said it would take several days to reconnect every home.

Meanwhile, Hydro Quebec said 550,000 homes there lost power, with nearly 400,000 still suffering outages as of 10:00 local time (14:00 GMT) on Sunday.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted on Sunday evening that the federal government was preparing to step in to help those affected.

“The storms that swept across Ontario and Quebec yesterday caused serious damage, claimed several lives, and left many without power,” Mr Trudeau said.

“We’re thinking of everyone affected, and thanking the crews who are working to restore power – we stand ready to provide federal support if needed.”

Pictures on Canadian media showed firefighters and utility workers trying to untangle downed powerlines and poles that are lying over cars on a road in Ottawa.

The town of Uxbridge, about an hour north of Toronto, has declared a state of emergency after the storm left “significant damage in its wake”, a statement said.

The powerful thunderstorm, which lasted more than two hours, felled many trees, disrupted traffic, damaged homes and saw emergency services inundated with calls for help.

Experts said the storm, which spanned across an area of around 621 miles (1,000km), was caused by a rare phenomenon called “derecho”.

Derenchos are caused when a fast moving group of thunderstorms band together and mostly occur during summer months.

The seven people killed by falling trees and branches were in the eastern Ontario province.

Provincial Police said a 59-year-old man was killed when a tree was uprooted on a golf course in the capital, Ottawa. East of the city, local media reported that a 44-year-old man was killed in Greater Madawaska.

One person died and two others were injured by an uprooted tree at a campsite about 60 miles (100km) from Toronto, and a woman in her 70s was killed while out walking in the suburb of Brampton, in the Greater Toronto area.

In neighbouring province Quebec, police told local media that a 51-year-old woman drowned when a boat overturned in the Ottawa River, which runs through both provinces.

The advice, from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), applies to anyone who has had direct or household contact with a confirmed case.

Contacts are advised to provide their details for contact tracing, forgo travel, and avoid contact with immunosuppressed people, pregnant women, and children under 12.

The UK has so far confirmed 20 cases.

More than 80 have also been identified across Europe, the US, Canada, Israel, and Australia.

Monkeypox is a rare viral infection most common in remote parts of Central and West Africa. The disease, first found in monkeys, does not tend to spread easily between people but can be transmitted through close physical contact, including sexual intercourse.

Symptoms, which include a high temperature, aches, and a rash of raised spots that later turn into blisters, are typically mild and for most people clear up within two to four weeks.

A person is considered at high risk of having caught the infection if they have had household or sexual contact with, or have changed the bedding of an infected person without wearing personal protective equipment (PPE).

Speaking to the BBC, Dr Susan Hopkins, chief medical adviser for UKHSA, said community transmission was occurring in the UK.

“We are finding cases that have no identified contact with an individual from west Africa, which is what we’ve seen previously in this country,” she said.

The UKHSA has said that a notable proportion of early cases have been detected in gay and bisexual men and has urged members of those communities in particular to be alert.

The cases have also been largely concentrated in urban areas.

“We would recommend to anyone who is having changes in sex partners regularly, or having close contact with individuals that they don’t know, to come forward if they develop a rash,” said Dr Hopkins.

She added that there was currently no vaccine for monkeypox, but that close contacts of cases were being given an established smallpox vaccine.

“We’re not using [the vaccine] in the general population,” she said. “We’re using it in individuals who we believe are at high risk of developing symptoms, and using it early, particularly within four or five days of the case developing symptoms.

“For contacts, [this] reduces your risk of developing disease, so that’s how we’re focusing our vaccination efforts at this point.”

It is not yet clear why this unexpected outbreak is happening now.

One possibility is that the virus has changed in some way, although currently there is little evidence to suggest this is a new variant.

Another explanation is that the virus has found itself in the right place at the right time to thrive.

Monkeypox may also spread more easily than it did in the past, when the smallpox vaccine was widely used.

Smallpox vaccines are around 85% effective in preventing monkeypox infection, and several countries have said they have begun stockpiling them.

The World Health Organization has said it is “working with the affected countries and others to expand disease surveillance to find and support people who may be affected”.

It’s head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also said the world was facing “formidable” challenges, including Covid, the war in Ukraine and monkeypox.

Asked about the outbreak on Sunday, US President Joe Biden said the spread of the virus was “something that everybody should be concerned about” and that the US was “working hard” on its response.

The release of the full report had been delayed until an inquiry by the Metropolitan Police concluded.

That inquiry ended last week with 126 fines being handed to 83 people, including Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

A number of people were informed over the weekend they were likely to be named in Ms Gray’s findings.

They had until 17:00 BST on Sunday to register any objections, a development that Whitehall sources told the BBC could have further delayed the release of the report.

Ms Gray’s report is expected to be critical of those overseeing a culture in Number 10 in which lockdown breaches could occur.

An interim version, published in January, did not name individuals but did criticise “failures of leadership and judgement”, and said some events should not have “been allowed to take place”.

The evidence in the report is said to include a total of 510 images. The BBC understands it is unlikely all the images will be released, although it is possible some will be published to illustrate the nature of the gatherings.

Asked on BBC One’s Sunday Morning programme whether all the evidence would be released, Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi replied: “I would absolutely welcome it. It’s the right thing to do.”

Mr Zahawi also had to rebut claims by opposition figures that a meeting between Ms Gray and the prime minister that took place several week ago but only came to light over the weekend, could undermine confidence in the investigation.

“The [prime minister] has always said that Sue Gray can take the report to wherever the evidence takes her. The prime minister will not interfere or intervene in the report,” he said.

“Sue Gray… is professional and has the highest level of integrity. She is independent.”

The prime minister faces a further inquiry by the Commons’ Privileges Committee about whether he lied to Parliament when he previously told MPs that no laws had been broken in Downing Street.

Under government guidelines, ministers who knowingly mislead the House of Commons are expected to resign.