US and UK troops should have stayed in Afghanistan “to see it through”, Tony Blair has said, as he warned the decision to withdraw personnel could lead to a “security threat” at home.
The former Labour prime minister said while he has “enormous respect” for US President Joe Biden, the number of individuals deployed in the country “had been reduced to a much smaller level” by 2019 and UK troops “were in a position to hold firm for some considerable time”.
Mr Blair, who sent UK troops into Afghanistan 20 years ago when he was prime minister, also urged the UK and its allies to develop a “strategy” to deal with the Taliban to ensure “we don’t end up with a security threat”.
Image: Tony Blair said President Biden’s decision to withdraw US troops was ‘imbecilic’
His comments come a day after he published a 2,700 word article on Afghanistan in which he referred to President Biden’s decision to withdraw troops as “imbecilic” and said the move was “tragic, dangerous and unnecessary”.
In the piece released on Saturday evening, Mr Blair warned that the UK has a “moral obligation” to maintain a presence in Afghanistan until “all those who need to be are evacuated” have left the country.
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Mr Blair told reporters the decision by the Trump administration to withdraw troops from Afghanistan was made “for internal American reasons” and that “we could have held firm and succeeded”.
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“This was not a situation we needed to be in,” the former prime minister told reporters, adding: “In the world we have today, you’ve got sometimes to commit for the long term.”
He continued: “The problem with what’s happened now is that it’s not just about the Afghan people and our obligation to them, it’s about us and our security.
Image: Tony Blair deployed troops to Afghanistan 20 years ago while he was prime minister
“Because you’ve now got this group back in charge of Afghanistan. They will give protection and succour to al Qaeda, you’ve got ISIS, Islamic State already in the country trying to operate at the same time.
“You look round the world and the only people really cheering this decision are the people hostile to Western interests.”
Mr Blair also called on the UK government and its G7 allies to work together to ensure peace.
He urged leaders to “hold firm” against people who are hostile to Western interests, even when the decision to do so divides opinion.
“The Taliban will find that governing is a lot harder than they thought. The population of Afghanistan is different,” he said.
Image: Tony Blair urged the UK and its allies to develop a ‘strategy’ to ensure ‘we don’t end up with a security threat’
“There’s going to be a lot that we can still do but it’s important that we mobilise now after the disarray frankly of the last few weeks, that we mobilise as the leading countries and make it clear that we still understand we have an obligation in our own interests to try and resolve this situation and to put as much pressure on the government in Afghanistan as possible to make sure that we don’t end up either with a security threat in play for us or with the Afghan people losing the gains they’ve made over the last 20 years.”
Mr Blair also defended his decision to deploy troops 20 years ago following emotive comments made by Afghanistan veterans in recent days, saying UK personnel “went in there for very good reasons” and did not make any “sacrifices in vain”.
He told reporters that what was achieved in Afghanistan over the past two decades still “matters today” and that Britain’s involvement in Afghanistan has not been a “hopeless endeavour”.
“I think it’s really important that people realise this, the story of Afghanistan, the story of the Taliban takeover, it’s not over,” Mr Blair added.
“It is tragic what’s happened, I think it’s unnecessary, I think we’ve made a serious mistake in doing this in this way, but it isn’t over yet.”
A charity has warned 25% of young children and pregnant women in Gaza are now malnourished, with Sir Keir Starmer vowing to evacuate children who need “critical medical assistance” to the UK.
MSF, also known as Doctors Without Borders, said Israel’s “deliberate use of starvation as a weapon” has reached unprecedented levels – with patients and healthcare workers both fighting to survive.
It claimed that, at one of its clinics in Gaza City, rates of severe malnutrition in children under five have trebled over the past two weeks – and described the lack of food and water on the ground as “unconscionable”.
Image: Pic: Reuters
The charity also criticised the high number of fatalities seen at aid distribution sites, with one British surgeon accusing IDF soldiers of shooting civilians “almost like a game of target practice”.
MSF’s deputy medical coordinator in Gaza, Dr Mohammed Abu Mughaisib, said: “Those who go to the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s food distributions know that they have the same chance of receiving a sack of flour as they do of leaving with a bullet in their head.”
The UN also estimates that Israeli forces have killed more than 1,000 people seeking food – the majority near the militarised distribution sites of the US-backed aid distribution scheme run by the GHF.
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1:20
‘Many more deaths unless Israelis allow food in’
In a statement on Friday, the IDF had said it “categorically rejects the claims of intentional harm to civilians”, and reports of incidents at aid distribution sites were “under examination”.
The GHF has also previously disputed that these deaths were connected with its organisation’s operations, with director Johnnie Moore telling Sky News: “We just want to feed Gazans. That’s the only thing that we want to do.”
Israel says it has let enough food into Gaza and has accused the UN of failing to distribute it, in what the foreign ministry has labelled as “a deliberate ploy” to defame the country.
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In a video message posted on X late last night, Sir Keir Starmer condemned the scenes in Gaza as “appalling” and “unrelenting” – and said “the images of starvation and desperation are utterly horrifying”.
The prime minister added: “The denial of aid to children and babies is completely unjustifiable, just as the continued captivity of hostages is completely unjustifiable.
“Hundreds of civilians have been killed while seeking aid – children, killed, whilst collecting water. It is a humanitarian catastrophe, and it must end.”
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Israeli military show aid waiting inside Gaza
Sir Keir confirmed that the British government is now “accelerating efforts” to evacuate children from Gaza who need critical medical assistance, so they can be brought to the UK for specialist treatment.
Israel has now said that foreign countries will be able to airdrop aid into Gaza. While the PM says the UK will now “do everything we can” to get supplies in via this route, he said this decision has come “far too late”.
Last year, the RAF dropped aid into Gaza, but humanitarian organisations warned it wasn’t enough and was potentially dangerous. In March 2024, five people were killed when an aid parachute failed and supplies fell on them.
The prime minister is instead demanding a ceasefire and “lasting peace” – and says he will only consider an independent state as part of a negotiated peace deal.