The scenes in Afghanistan over recent days are truly heartbreaking for all of us.
We have seen desperate people clinging to aeroplanes trying to escape. Interpreters who served bravely alongside our military have been left fearing for their lives as a result of Taliban retribution, while women face the horror of the return of the appalling abuses we saw under the regime the last time they were in control.
I know the British public would never want us to turn our backs on people facing such terror. That’s why Labour will keep fighting for urgent and generous support for Afghan refugees.
The Conservatives are doing nowhere near enough. Instead of lounging on the beach, the Foreign Secretary should have been securing exits for our friends and allies.
Instead of defying official advice, he should have been immediately available to pick up the phone to help our interpreters.
And instead of coming home and tweeting about the calls he did make, he should do the honourable thing and leave his job.
His complacency is a gross betrayal.
However, it’s not only the Afghan people who have been put in danger by this chaotic collapse. The Conservatives’ mishandling has not only helped the Taliban take control, but also opened the doors of Afghanistan to terrorist groups like Al-Qaeda once again.
One of the Taliban’s first acts of power was to set thousands of terrorist prisoners free.
That means we have the risk of Afghanistan once again and becoming a launchpad for global terrorism, just as it was in the 1990s. The fact the Prime Minister was taken by such surprise as Afghanistan collapsed means there are now real risks that gaps have appeared in our defences against global terrorism.
So now we need a hard-headed security response, alongside our efforts to help victims in Afghanistan. Yet the Defence Minister and Home Secretary haven’t even been able to answer basic questions about our response to this catastrophic situation this week.
What is required now is a serious look at how we can prevent those that seek to do us harm from carrying out those attacks on British soil ever again. Government ministers need to ensure there are tough measures in place to identify and deal with terrorist infrastructure that will be built up in Afghanistan.
This is vital to ensuring we can counter terror threats that are plotted abroad, but can have dire consequences on British soil.
What happens on the streets of Kabul matters on the streets of Britain. We have a moral obligation to the people of Afghanistan, alongside an urgent national security risk to people in this country.
We cannot falter on either vital mission.
