Yes, the Taliban have humiliated the west – but more importantly, did our soldiers die in vain?

The narrative that the USA and its allies are in terminal decline will have been reinforced by the crisis in Afghanistan, says Vince Cable. The world will become a more dangerous place now

Taliban fighters on patrol inside the city of Kandahar (Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

One of the most significant and testing duties in my years as MP in Twickenham was to speak at the British Legion on Remembrance Sunday. My task, as someone who had never served in the forces but as a politician who had voted for several military actions, was to honour the casualties of war. I was there to reassure the survivors and descendants that their losses were not in vain.

After the UK commitment to a continuing Nato-led force in Afghanistan in 2006, every year mention was made of Britain’s dead soldiers in Afghanistan and the many thousands wounded, some of whom also brought their physical injuries and mental scars to my advice surgeries.

My rather glib words were along the lines that, unlike the earlier intervention in Iraq, this war was legal, jointly undertaken with many allies and also just, prompted by the hospitality the Taliban had given to Al-Qaeda terrorists and its brutally literal interpretation of Islam, especially in relation to women.