THE BRUTAL BETRAYAL, BAME’s ANGUISH AND THE BLAME GAME.
(IMMEDIATE ACTION POINTS TO SALVAGE A BIDEN-MADE CHAOS, or MAN-MADE CRISIS – How to snatch DEFEAT from the jaw of VICTORY – the BIDEN legacy)
AFTER THE INITIAL ANGER and ANGUISH, NOW THE ACTION POINTS
Immediate action must include: 1) increasing the 900 British soldiers sent to Kabul; 2) doubling the number of refugees into the UK from 20,000 in the first year; 3) Afghan leaders and female leaders/Scientists; 4) ‘global BRITAIN’ must mean ‘GLOBAL Britain!’, with clear emphasis on global; and 5) all military veterans must be re-assured by a rash of new initiatives.
By Professor Chris Imafidon
(In attendance at the emergency meeting of the government and legislators in the Palace of Westminster, London)
INTRODUCTION
Every logical mind has responded with total disbelief, and horror to the utterly irresponsible actions and the disgraceful utterances of President Biden, the unimaginable folly of Boris Johnson and their political associates. Now, some immediate actions are urgently needed to remedy this man-made crisis of epic proportions.
The most poignant of all the responses from the Parliament, was from Lord Simons Woolley, CBE of Woodford.
Lord Woolley, world renowned Equality and diversity champion and the first Black man to head an Oxbridge college said that the slogans “America is back” and “Global Britain”, both sound shockingly hollow in the face of the preventable and easily avoidable tragedy of Afghanistan. Lord Simon adds “Government must take responsibility for their catastrophic and humiliating failure to the British soldiers who paid with their lives and above or the Afghan people, including the brave judges, the police, the army, who were promised support. This includes the women and girls who received the pledge of a bright future. He said, “We failed the young creative minds, which will now be shackled due to the Taliban takeover without any preconditions. Global Britain was already sounding hollow. When we decided to withdraw our promised 4 billion pounds to foreign aid, to some of the poorest people on the planet yesterday, the foreign secretary talked about a temporary, a 10% increase in aid to Afghanistan, but last month he made a cut of 78% urgent”
According to Lord Simon, respected adviser to British governments and the most influential black man in Westminster opines “Serious humanitarian aid is not only needed in Afghanistan, but also earthquake affected Haiti, which today is forgotten. As we see the unfolding tragedy of Afghanistan, we can and must have a global Britain, but we’ve got to step up to the leadership plate. Afghanistan is in part our mess, and we must take our responsibility. Action points for the UK include 1) Resettlement package for refugees, not just for thousands, but for many tens of thousands, not just in five years, but in one or two years, 2) We must not only reverse the 4 billion pound cut in foreign aid, but add to it in this trouble world exacerbated by COVID-19. 3) Lastly, we must redouble our great British statesmanship, something. I feel we’ve abandoned. We must therefore collectively work with our international partners some more easily than others, but they must include China, Russia, and the Taliban this time and first priority should be the Afghan people, which will be good for them and ultimately safer for us at home too.
Lord Woolley earlier said “Let me first say shame on Lord Rowbotham for making cheap divisive remarks in this important debate about Afghanistan. By claiming that black lives matter is somehow against the interest of the UK. Black lives matter is about equality, diversity and decency. Something that he lacked today”
RORY STEWART, FORMER MILITARY TURN POLITICIAN
Rt Hon Rory Stewart, an Afghan military veteran who was until recently a British Senior Minister and a Cabinet member said “This is, just, unforgivable, I mean, and totally extraordinary. I’m extremely angry of course, with President Biden because in the end he has followed a policy really of Trump’s. This is Trump’s isolationism, it’s a reckless withdrawal. He seems to put no thought into a proper transition, but I’m also angry at Britain and other nation who could have taken up that responsibility. There were only 2,500 soldiers in the country (Afghanistan) at the beginning of this year. That was, a number that could easily have been taken over by another NATO coalition with some support from the USA but nobody tried to do this thoughtfully. I think it’s also very sad for Britain because it suggests we’ve lost the capacity to really think independently of the USA and try to come up with viable alternatives with France, with Germany and with Turkey.
BUSH, BLAIR, BORIS BLUNDERS
To some extent, Boris Johnson’s government blinded themselves the worst shambolic departure in history and were too optimistic. Our support was although small but very significant, it was like a small Keystone in an arch, and when it was taken away, the whole thing fell down. It wasn’t the size of the army. It was important as far as the role-played was concerned.
We, Britain have to be literally ashamed of ourselves if we allow substance to go because we are many millions, literally millions of lives that were impacted by this so-called operation enduring freedom declared by Bush, and delivered by Tony Blair. If there’s enduring freedom in the name of the operation, we must play the role as expected of us. We are going to have to turn back the clock and apologize to the people that became widows; apologize to people who became literally orphans; apologize to children who are now without fathers. This is due to this strategic unforgivable error followed by another error, and now became a catalogue of errors. The strength of a nation is not in the size of your army, it is in the size of who you consider real partners.
Rt Hon Tom Tugendhat, MBE – Foreign Affairs Select Committee chair and another Afghan military Veteran was initially pretty harsh in his assessment of where this crisis sits in foreign policy disasters that Britain has suffered. But in the end he was very emotional about the loss suffered.
Rt Hom Tom Tugendhat made a very useful intervention, his views are always very useful as soon as in the past. He has called for forceful leadership. As a war veteran. Tom has some very graphic images, very useful for things to say. The world has not just respect for him, almost been venerated. Haven’t fought in the war. He has been to the tour of duty and experienced what leadership is at war. And in this was a crisis. It is unbelievable that his experience is ignored by Boris Johnson and the government. The current politicians do not understand the fundamentals of leadership.
LEADERSHIP IN CRISIS
Leadership is what you do in times of crisis. This crisis, this time was precipitated by us, not them but us. It was folly.
All we needed was 2,500 soldiers, 2,500. That’s a peak in number. If we had that, and the so-called allies were allied in their thinking or had anything to do with thinking, this CRISIS, or what we’re saying will be easily avoidable. It is easily avoidable, and we should have avoided it. It’s still not late in the game. Not late at all. We must pick up the pieces. How can we find ourselves again, important in the face of all sorts of violence against innocent cities, against women, against children? What was the war for? Why did we go to war?
This is the biggest test of the current leadership and Mr Boris Johnson should be asking for a serious emergency G7 summit, so that they can provide true leadership.
It’s aligning with Angela Merkel and understanding that war is not only fought in the battlefields. War can also be fought or won in negotiation too.
EQUALITY, EQUITY AND TALIBAN EXPERIENCE
Former Prime Minister, Rt. Hon Theresa May MP known for her loyalty to government and subdued feelings, was uncharacteristically emotional and openly rebuked her successor in parliament.
It is an open secret that women and girls continued to face gender-based discrimination and violence throughout Afghanistan, especially in areas under Taliban control, where their rights were violated with impunity and violent “punishments” were meted out for perceived transgressions of the armed group’s interpretation of Islamic law. Man-made laws that have no basis in the Quran or the Prophet’s teachings.
Violence against women and girls remained chronically under-reported, with women often fearing reprisals and lacking confidence in the authorities if they came forward. According to the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC), more than 100 cases of murder were reported during the year. Where these cases were reported, there was a persistent failure to investigate them. In some cases, victims of violence came under pressure from their communities or state officials to withdraw their complaints, or “mediation” was used to resolve complaints beyond the protection of the law. As a result, there was widespread impunity for the perpetrators of beatings, killings, torture and other ill treatment, and corporal punishments.
LADY LEADERSHIP
Women’s participation in government remained limited despite some key improvements in the situation of women since 2000. Women’s participation in roles in provincial and local governments remained largely restricted, particularly in the social protection and education sectors. The few women in government faced intimidation, harassment and discrimination. They were not able to access office resources on equitable terms with male colleagues and were often denied overtime work and payment. Women were further denied adequate opportunities in decision-making roles and the attacks they faced while working in government offices were rarely investigated, with impunity persisting for the perpetrators.
Finally my discussions with leaders, and legislators behind the scenes and later in my interactions with the media in parliament centered on equity and practical solutions for this ugly situation. This include: increasing the 900 British soldiers sent to Kabul; doubling the number of refugees into the UK from 20,000 in the first year; supervision and mentorship of Afghan leaders; ‘global BRITAIN’ must mean ‘GLOBAL Britain!’, with clear emphasis on global; and all military veterans must be re-assured by a rash of new initiatives.
Professor Chris Imafidon is a multi-Guinness World record holder; internationally renowned adviser to monarchs, governments, presidents and corporate leaders; Mentor to multi-millionaire tech entrepreneurs & many world record holders. His STEM and other research and innovation have been recognised internationally, winning multiple awards. Professor Imafidon is 5X International Bestselling author; Mentor to New York Times Bestellers and a Sunday Times Op-ed author, a Wall Street Journal BestSelling author and a regular contributor to #AfricanVoice;.
He is chair, ExcellenceinEducation.org.uk, an alliance of inner-city educational charities and institutions that mentors youths, women and professionals in the commonwealth. [Twitter @ChrisImafidon; Instagram @CoImafidon; Facebook/Linkedln/ClubHouse –Professor Chris Imafidon
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