Skip to main content
The Afghan war ended as it began, shamefully
By Diane Abbott

THE Commons was recalled a few days ago to debate the withdrawal from Afghanistan.  

But, as some MPs implied, there is little point in debates such as this if the real bedrock of the British foreign and military policy is that this country will simply do whatever the US tells it.

From beginning to end the entire Afghan war morally and politically indefensible. Just 17 MPs opposed it at the time, and I am proud to say I was one of them, alongside Jeremy Corbyn, John McDonnell and Hywel Williams (Plaid Cymru) who are still sitting MPs.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
Pedestrians in Manhattan watch smoke billow from the World Trade Centre towers 25 years ago
Features / 10 September 2026
10 September 2026

The attacks of September 2001 became the pretext for a new era of US-led intervention. Twenty-five years on, millions are dead and the promised ‘victories’ remain nowhere to be seen, says ANDREW MURRAY

Zinn
Book Review / 13 August 2026
13 August 2026

RON JACOBS welcomes the political lessons for today, about organisation and withdrawal from conflict, made by an erudite and conversational biography

President Donald Trump speaks with reporters in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, April 6, 2026, in Washington
Eyes Wright / 9 April 2026
9 April 2026

Washington’s response to a downed jet shows a superpower still reaching for overwhelming force even as its wars repeatedly fail, says NICK WRIGHT

CONSTRAINED ROLE? British marines on patrol at Camp Taylor, the forward operating base, as more than 1,000 troops began Operation Snipe in the south-east region of Afghanistan, 2002
Features / 9 April 2026
9 April 2026

Outrage greeted Donald Trump’s suggestion earlier this year that Britain stayed off the front lines. But evidence suggests our forces were at times pulled from the most dangerous fighting — not by military failure, but by pressure at home, says IAN SINCLAIR