Today, the Foreign Affairs Committee publishes the Government’s
response to the Committee’s report “Missing in action: UK
leadership and the withdrawal from Afghanistan”.
The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) states
that “there are fundamental lessons to learn” from the
withdrawal, and that it is “determined to raise standards” in
preparing for and responding to future crises.
In its report, published in May, the Committee criticised
“evasive, and often deliberately misleading” answers from the
FCDO, and stated it had “lost confidence in the Permanent
Under-Secretary, who should consider his position”. The FCDO
responds that “at no stage have Ministers or officials sought to
mislead the Committee deliberately” and reiterates its “sincere
apologies” for “inadvertently providing misleading evidence”.
In response to the Committee’s criticism of the “Special Cases”
evacuation scheme, for Afghans who supported the UK effort
without being directly employed by the UK Government, the FCDO
concedes that the scheme had “many shortcomings”, was
“poorly communicated”, and that prioritisation of cases was “far
from perfect”. The response states that there were “staffing gaps
in some teams for some periods” during the evacuation, and that
“the impact of the crisis on staff welfare was
significant”.
The Committee criticised the department’s approach to two
whistleblowers who gave evidence to the inquiry, and called for
the FCDO to review its processes for officials to register
concerns. The FCDO states that it has “recently reviewed its
whistleblowing policy against industry best practice”, and that
the department “would not penalise, any member of staff for
raising concerns in line with the procedures and with the
law”.
Chair's comments
Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, , said:
“The fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban, and our failure to
manage the consequences, leaves a black mark on Britain’s record.
This is a tragedy, first and foremost, for the Afghan people, who
are now suffering through a humanitarian crisis and the return of
a brutal and oppressive regime.
After two decades of direct involvement, the UK has a duty people
of Afghanistan. I am pleased to see that the Foreign Office
agrees with so many of the Committee’s recommendations on the
need to engage with, not isolate, Afghanistan. Disengaging will
only punish ordinary Afghans, who have suffered enough.
It is clear that leadership within the Foreign Office fell
desperately short before, during and after the UK’s withdrawal
from Afghanistan. The UK’s allies in the country were left with
false hope of rescue, while junior Foreign Office staff members
were forced to make life and death decisions without proper
support. They should never have been put in this position. I
would like to thank again the brave whistleblowers who came
forward for their contribution to exposing these facts.
I am pleased that the Foreign Office has acknowledged and
accepted many of the criticisms put forward in the Foreign
Affairs Committee’s report. This disaster has exposed serious
failings in the department and I hope that this response signals
the start of a sincere attempt to remedy these failures.”
Member's comments
Member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, , said:
“The UK’s withdrawal from Afghanistan was one of the biggest
reversals of a British foreign police in decades and
the Foreign Office’s handling of it was chaotic,
fatally undermining the public’s trust in the Government’s
ability to execute foreign policy – or to give an honest account
to Parliament.
The information we received from the Foreign Office on the Nowzad
case in the course of the inquiry varied between intentionally
evasive and deliberately misleading. This response fails again to
clarify or explain the inconsistencies in their statements to the
Committee.
Our report called on the political and diplomatic leadership of
the Foreign Office to make a fresh start and re-commit to
transparency and positive engagement with Parliament after this
experience. Judging by the continuing evasions in this response,
they are not listening.
So far we have had few signs that the Foreign Secretary and the
Foreign Office are able to learn valuable lessons from this
experience. If this continues, we risk another catastrophe
further undermining our standing on the world stage.”
