• Privacy policy
  • T&C’s
  • About Us
    • FAQ
    • Meet the Team
  • Contact us
TLE ONLINE SHOP!
  • TLE
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Opinion
  • Elevenses
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • Film
    • Lifestyle
      • Horoscopes
    • Lottery Results
      • Lotto
      • Thunderball
      • Set For Life
      • EuroMillions
  • Food
    • All Food
    • Recipes
  • Property
  • Travel
  • Tech/Auto
  • JOBS
No Result
View All Result
The London Economic
SUPPORT THE LONDON ECONOMIC
NEWSLETTER
  • TLE
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Opinion
  • Elevenses
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • Film
    • Lifestyle
      • Horoscopes
    • Lottery Results
      • Lotto
      • Thunderball
      • Set For Life
      • EuroMillions
  • Food
    • All Food
    • Recipes
  • Property
  • Travel
  • Tech/Auto
  • JOBS
No Result
View All Result
The London Economic
No Result
View All Result
Home News

Was Raab lying? Forces chief denies failure in military intelligence on Afghanistan

“There’s been a lot of talk about a failure of intelligence” but that he said back in July that “there are a number of scenarios that could play out and one of them certainly would be a collapse and state fracture”.

Joe Mellor by Joe Mellor
2021-09-05 11:27
in News
FacebookTwitterLinkedinEmailWhatsapp

The head of the armed forces has admitted “everybody got it wrong” over the pace of the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, but denied there was a failure in military intelligence.

General Sir Nick Carter said many assessments suggested Kabul would fall this year, despite Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab having said intelligence put this as “unlikely”.

Boris Johnson and his Foreign Secretary have been coming under sustained criticism for their handling of the crisis, with thousands of vulnerable Afghans feared to have been left behind.

Mr Raab, who was holidaying in Crete in August while the Taliban marched back to power, said the central assessment of the military and wider intelligence community was that it was “unlikely Kabul would fall this year”.

However, Sir Nick, Chief of the Defence Staff, denied to the BBC on Sunday that the military intelligence was wrong.

Failure

“No. The first scenario I think also would’ve said is it was entirely possible that the government wouldn’t hold on that much longer,” he told The Andrew Marr Show.

“Indeed, many of the assessments suggested it wouldn’t last the course of the year and, of course, that’s proven to be correct.”

RelatedPosts

BBC journalist and wheelchair user Frank Gardner stranded on plane at Gatwick

Met Office forecasts extreme heat conditions for Glastonbury 2050

Royal spending surpasses £100m as household incomes fall for record fourth quarter in a row

WTF! Bernie Ecclestone says he would ‘take a bullet for Putin’

Sir Nick said “there’s been a lot of talk about a failure of intelligence” but that he said back in July that “there are a number of scenarios that could play out and one of them certainly would be a collapse and state fracture”.

He said: “I think everybody got it wrong.

“It was the pace of it that surprised us and I don’t think we realised quite what the Taliban were up to.

“They weren’t really fighting for the cities they eventually captured, they were negotiating for them, and I think you’ll find a lot of money changed hands as they managed to buy off those who might have fought for them.”

Sir Nick said even the Taliban did not expect to take back power of Afghanistan so swiftly as the US pulled out its troops ahead of the August 31 deadline.

Reality

“At the moment they suffer from what we military call catastrophic success. They were not expecting to be in government as quickly as they have appeared and the reality is they are trying to find their feet,” he said.

“We need to wait and see how this happens and recognise that they’re probably going to need a bit of help in order to run a modern state effectively and if they behave perhaps they will get some help.”

Under questioning from MPs this week, Mr Raab suggested the intelligence was wrong on how quickly the Taliban would take Kabul, which fell on August 15.

“The central assessment that we were operating to, and it was certainly backed up by the JIC (Joint Intelligence Committee) and the military, is that the most likely, the central proposition, was that given the troop withdrawal by the end of August, you’d see a steady deterioration from that point and it was unlikely Kabul would fall this year,” he said.

Related: ‘Ashamed to live in nation that elected this government’ says Double Booker prize winner

Tags: dominic raab

Since you are here

Since you are here, we wanted to ask for your help.

Journalism in Britain is under threat. The government is becoming increasingly authoritarian and our media is run by a handful of billionaires, most of whom reside overseas and all of them have strong political allegiances and financial motivations.

Our mission is to hold the powerful to account. It is vital that free media is allowed to exist to expose hypocrisy, corruption, wrongdoing and abuse of power. But we can't do it without you.

If you can afford to contribute a small donation to the site it will help us to continue our work in the best interests of the public. We only ask you to donate what you can afford, with an option to cancel your subscription at any point.

To donate or subscribe to The London Economic, click here.

The TLE shop is also now open, with all profits going to supporting our work.

The shop can be found here.

You can also SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER .

Subscribe to our Newsletter

View our  Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions

Trending on TLE

  • All
  • trending
Abdollah

‘Rescue us’: Afghan teacher begs UK to help him escape Taliban

CHOMSKY: “If Corbyn had been elected, Britain would be pursuing a much more sane course”

What If We Got Rid Of Prisons?

More from TLE

Grillstock, Bristol – Review

Biffy Clyro To Headline Edinburgh’s Hogmany Concert

Film Review: A Star Is Born

‘Dropping like flies’ as more than one in three ambulance workers has contracted Covid

Who Ordered the Antipasti?

Inside one of Britain’s biggest ever cannabis factories

Just Eat is first to publish hygiene ratings for every restaurant on its platform

‘EAT THE HAT GEORGE’: Galloway’s pre-election prediction goes viral

Watch Meghan speaks publicly about her mixed race heritage during South Africa tour

UK bags another 2m Moderna vaccine doses, with first jabs imminent

JOBS

FIND MORE JOBS

About Us

TheLondonEconomic.com – Open, accessible and accountable news, sport, culture and lifestyle.

Read more

© 2019 thelondoneconomic.com - TLE, International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct, London EC1A 2BN. All Rights Reserved.




No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Lifestyle
  • Food
  • Travel
  • JOBS
  • More…
    • Elevenses
    • Opinion
    • Property
    • Tech & Auto
  • About Us
    • Meet the Team
    • Privacy policy
  • Contact us

© 2019 thelondoneconomic.com - TLE, International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct, London EC1A 2BN. All Rights Reserved.