Exclusive: General Carter reveals UK setting up aid base in Afghanistan
General Sir Nick Carter has revealed that his cautious remarks relating to the Taliban on Wednesday were calculated to make it easier for British forces to set up an ongoing aid infrastructure in Afghanistan.
Britain’s defence chief told me over the phone earlier today that, despite limited circumstances: “We have to keep the options open. We have to establish an aid base on the ground there, because we have to get masses of aid in to avoid a refugee catastrophe.”
He suggests the refugee crisis will quickly spill beyond the Afghan borders, especially into Pakistan and Iran. “We have to be there for as long as we can.”
“There is realpolitik,” says Carter. “We are where we are, and we have to see how things turn out.”
Remarks by the defence chief about talking to the Taliban, and being open to the new regime, have led him to be labelled an “appeaser” by no less an authority than the Daily Mail.
Yet there was genuine purpose to the General’s comments, in which Carter said he did not want to brand Afghanistan a failed state in the hope that the new Taliban might go for a country that is “inclusive for all”.
“I know I am broadcasting to multiple audiences,” says Carter of his interviews on Sky and the BBC in the past 24 hours. “This also gets to the Taliban as well.”
The realpolitik of getting as much done on the ground in Kabul with minimum interference must have been sanctioned by Ben Wallace, the Defence Secretary, and even No 10 – for once a piece of subtle, understated but highly practical UK strategy on Afghanistan. Collaborating with the Taliban on keeping the airport open and allowing an air bridge for flights to land and leave is seen as essential if the UK forces are to get as many people out of the country as possible.
With 900 members of the Parachute Regiment now out on the ground, tasked with doing all they can to help UK civilians and Afghans who want to leave in Kabul, the General knows it is counter-productive to call the Taliban “the enemy”.
The productivity of the Paras and the mixed task force team under Brigadier Dan Blanchard contrasts markedly with that of the larger 82nd Airborne Division, now the main US presence at Kabul airport. Rumours continue to swirl that the Americans are about to cut and run from the base there – whatever their allies may wish and think.
Carter is deeply versed in Afghanistan, having devoted much of the past 20 years of his military service there. This makes his depiction of the Taliban interesting. He told his TV interviewers that he did not know how much the new Taliban team might differ from that which came to power in 1996, and made such a hash of running the country til 2001.
“They seem to be a bunch of country boys,” he said, after talking to former president Hamid Karzai yesterday. “Many of their practices, you will find, are based on deep tribal practices and traditions – the lore of the so-called Pashtun Wali [tribal courts, shuras, decisions by elders],” rather than an abstract interpretation of Sharia law.
There is also a critical aspect of geopolitics to the manner in which the withdrawal is conducted, Carter believes. “It is important for Britain to still be engaged. If we believe in Global Britain we have to be concerned. America may be getting out. But Russia and China are hanging on in there.”