"Tragic, Dangerous, Unnecessary": Ex-UK Leader Tony Blair Blasts "Abandonment" Of Afghanistan

Tony Blair wrote: "The abandonment of Afghanistan and its people is tragic, dangerous, unnecessary, not in their interests and not in ours."

Former UK prime minister Tony Blair, who in 2001 took Britain into war in Afghanistan alongside the United States, on Saturday condemned their "abandonment" of the country as "dangerous" and "unnecessary". In his first public comments on the crisis since the Afghan government collapsed last weekend, Blair used a wide-ranging article published on his foundation's website to heavily criticise Western actions. "The abandonment of Afghanistan and its people is tragic, dangerous, unnecessary, not in their interests and not in ours," Blair wrote. "In the aftermath of the decision to return Afghanistan to the same group from which the carnage of 9/11 arose, and in a manner which seems almost designed to parade our humiliation, the question which allies and enemies alike pose, is: has the West lost its strategic will?"