Britain's decision to follow the US in pulling troops out of Afghanistan throws into doubt the UK's trustworthiness as an ally, Boris Johnson was warned today.
The Prime Minister told MPs most British servicemen and women had returned home from the war-ravaged country as the NATO mission ends.
Taliban fighters continue to make huge gains, seizing back territory from Afghan government forces and raising fears the country could once again be overrun.
But Mr Johnson insisted the nation was in a better state – and posed less of a terrorism risk to the UK – than when western troops invaded in 2001.
Justifying the withdrawal, he told the Commons: “No one should doubt the gains of the last 20 years, but nor can we shrink from the hard reality of the situation today.
“The international military presence in Afghanistan was never intended to be permanent – we and our NATO allies were always going to withdraw our forces.
“The only question was when, and there could never be a perfect moment.”
He added: “I hope that no-one will leap to the false conclusion that the withdrawal of our forces somehow means the end of Britain's commitment to Afghanistan.
“We are not about to turn away, nor are we under any illusions about the perils of today's situation and what may lie ahead.”
British combat soldiers left in 2014 and the UK's remaining 750 troops, who were involved in training local forces after, started to pull out of the country in May.
Most are now home.
The withdrawal followed US President Joe Biden's decision that all American troops will have left by September 11 – the 20th anniversary of the al-Qaeda terror attacks which triggered the War on Terror.
American forces left Bagram air base this month.
A total of 457 British troops died in Afghanistan after the start of operations in 2001.
Commons Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Tom Tugendhat, a former Army colonel who served in Afghanistan, fought back emotions as he warned the PM his fallen comrades' legacy was “now in real doubt”.
He asked the PM: “If persistence isn't persistent, if endurance doesn't endure then how can people trust us as an ally?
“How can people look at us as a friend?”
Pointing to how the UK stayed in Germany for decades after the Second World War, he added: “This reminds me of Germany in 1950, at a time when we could have walked away, we could've said, 'It's too expensive, it's too difficult to rebuild. Let's let Stalin have it and see what happens.'
“But we didn't, we stayed – and in doing so we liberated the whole of Europe peacefully.”
Labour's deputy leader Angela Rayner, standing in while party chief Keir Starmer visits Northern Ireland, said: “The Taliban are making gains on the ground and serious questions remain about the future stability of Afghanistan.
“A security threat remains to the wider world including to the UK, and nobody wants to see British troops permanently stationed in Afghanistan, but we simply cannot wash our hands or walk away.
"It's hard to see a future without bloodier conflict and wider Taliban control.
“Already, they are on the brink of gaining control of provincial capitals and Afghan security forces are at risk of being overwhelmed.”
Mr Johnson insisted: “We are not walking away.”
