A SENIOR Tory MP has expressed regret for posting a video in which he claimed Afghanistan had been “transformed” under the Taliban.
We previously told how Tobias Ellwood sparked outrage after sharing a video where he claimed the streets of the country are “relatively safe” and “corruption is down”.
His position as chair of the Commons defence select committee is also in jeopardy with four members tabling a no-confidence motion in his leadership of the group.
Writing for The Telegraph, he encouraged the UK to reopen its embassy in Kabul and negotiate with the Taliban despite a dramatic slide in women’s rights in the country.
Speaking to TalkTV’s Piers Morgan Uncensored, Ellwood said he “got it wrong” and has subsequently deleted the clip from Twitter.
BREAKING: Tobias Ellwood has deleted his controversial video backing engagement with the Taliban immediately after telling Piers Morgan he would do so live on air 👇@piersmorgan | @Tobias_Ellwood | @TalkTV | #PMU pic.twitter.com/iSVgBuYrMs
— Piers Morgan Uncensored (@PiersUncensored) July 19, 2023
He added that the days after he posted the video had been his “most miserable” as an MP.
In the film, the MP for Bournemouth East praised the appearance of solar panels in Afghanistan and noted the country’s opium trade had “all but disappeared”.
He told TalkTV: “I put my hand up, I step forward on many occasions and say things perhaps which other MPs won’t say and occasionally yes I say things the wrong way.”
Ellwood added that “because of Twitter a storm then comes about” and that he had “got it wrong”.
The MP continued: “I got it wrong Piers. I don’t know how many times you would like me to say that but I stand by the fact that Afghanistan is in a very bad place.”
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He was challenged on whether or not he would delete the video by Morgan which he since has.
Speaking to the BBC, Fawzia Koofi, the first ever female deputy speaker of the Afghan parliament, said Ellwood’s comments showed ignorance of how restricted life had become for Afghan women.
Glasgow-based charity Glasgow Afghan United also wrote to Ellwood expressing “grave concerns” about the video, saying that it caused “serious concern and indeed anger amongst the Scottish Afghan community, many members of which were forced to flee their homeland as a direct result of Taliban threat”.
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