THE developments in Afghanistan have rightly been headline news in recent days, with the world witnessing the huge distress of desperate people at Kabul airport and elsewhere across that war-torn country. David Pratt’s direct experience, as ever, has been amongst the most helpful versions of current events. But whilst the UK and US governments have excused their delayed activity on the speed of the Taliban takeover, their inactivity is an all-too-typical response to major crises.
We witnessed the same failure to understand what forces they were unleashing from UK Prime Minister Tony Blair claiming Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and US President George Bush in 2003 talking about the Iraq war in front of a banner saying “Mission Accomplished” ahead of years of destructive tension and violence.
READ MORE: Linda Norgrove Foundation workers failed to get evacuated from Afghanistan
Recently, we have heard UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson claiming that UK military involvement has supported the achievement of fundamental changes in Afghanistan, and that the Taliban were not “guaranteed the kind of victory that you sometimes read about.”
This real story of people living and serving there has been one of continuing danger and instability in Kabul, the main city of Afghanistan, which is at odds with the statements of politicians about the progress made by our troops serving in that country. The true recent history also explains the speed of the Taliban’s return to power and should have made it much less surprising. Where were the contingency plans by the UK and US governments for an emergency evacuation of their own citizens and of those local people employed by them during their occupying years?
Events in Afghanistan reflect the response to the Covid pandemic. The history of pandemics over the last thousand years is one of huge outbreaks at least once a century, and in the last few decades we have experienced bird flu and SARS epidemics. Where were the contingency plans by the UK and other governments, and stores of emergency supplies when Covid-19 started to spread across the world? Why was there so little immediate action in the UK as the spread reached crisis point in Italy and then Spain?
READ MORE: These two proposals would help us all and benefit our climate
The Brexit experience is yet another example of major economic and employment problems being predicted, not as baseless scare stories but grounded in detailed fact-based analysis. The response from the UK Government is yet again too slow and too late and we are already experiencing the predicted crisis in trade and workforce availability.
The biggest global risk of all is from climate change, with the threats increasingly well documented over the last 50 years and following the first Montreal conference in the 1980s. Whilst there are issues about delivery, at least we have a Scottish Government, with an SNP/Green arrangement which has better plans than most other governments. Following UK Government failure to plan and respond adequately to major crises throughout our lifetimes, what confidence is there about the response to the biggest threat the world has ever faced – the climate emergency?
Andrew Reid
Comrie, Perthshire
YESTERDAY’S article by Paigham Mustafa states “there should only be one legal system within the United Kingdom” (This is why Sharia law should be of concern, Aug 30). He is obviously not aware that the “United Kingdom” was created by a Union of two sovereign nations. Scotland’s own legal system was supposed to be protected.
We are aware of the ignorance of most things Scottish down south, but surely The National should not print such inaccuracies.
Edith Davidson
By email
MAYBE Dunfermline Athletic fans have been driven to a realistic view of the importance of football in Scotland (the more so this season).
I laughed at Matthew Lindsay’s reference to a Celtic v Rangers match as “the world famous fixture”, which is the most ludicrous hyperbole even allowing for the language of Boris Johnson.
Join me at East End Park and your grip on real life will be restored.
Archie Drummond
Tillicoultry
OH dear! Gentleman farmer and self-styled constitutional expert Alister Jack believes that less than 52% of the UK population on just one occasion was sufficient justification to get Brexit done, but 60% support indicated by fickle and unreliable polls, sustained over a reasonable period of time (the term “reasonable” to be determined by ... guess who) might be sufficient justification not even for getting Scottish independence done, but for granting permission, maybe, for some sort of referendum, perhaps.
That’s not moving the goalposts! That’s blockading the entrance to the stadium!
Derek Ball
Bearsden
READ MORE: Alister Jack says indyref2 could take place if support for vote is above 60 per cent
“SUSTAINED over a reasonably long period” – I doubt the next 300 years would be long enough for the current Tories.
Stewart McMutrie
via thenational.scot
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