One year ago, the United States, the United Kingdom and other allies faced one of their most challenging and complex overseas operations during the evacuation from Kabul, Afghanistan. The UK’s Operation Pitting, and the US’ Operation Allies Refuge, were the largest air evacuation operations in recent memory, and the biggest U.S. and U.K. mission of their kind in generations. Together, our operations saw over 138,000 people successfully evacuated within a fortnight. As the UK’s minister of state for Afghanistan, I saw the bravery and fortitude displayed by the men and women of the U.K. and U.S. and by our troops and diplomats working side by side. It is a testament to the skill and capability of our military and government workers, following months of intensive planning and collaboration with our international allies.
Our joint involvement in Afghanistan, alongside other NATO allies, was a response to the attack on 9/11. This hideous act of terrorism shook not just America, but also us in the U.K. and people in countries all across the free world. We will never forget those who lost their lives on 9/11 – and we rightly stood with our American friends in our determination to promote peace and stability.
Our primary objective when we deployed to Afghanistan 20 years ago was to ensure that it wasn't used as a base for international terrorism – and there has not been a successful international terrorist attack on the West mounted from Afghanistan since 9/11.
WHITE HOUSE DRAFTS MEMO DEFENDING AFGHANISTAN WITHDRAWAL
And because of U.K. aid – around $4.25 billion since 2002 – and the efforts of the UK, the U.S. and other allies, 9.5 million more children have received education. Infant mortality has decreased faster than in any other low-income country, from 87.6 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2001 to 46.5 in 2019.
We made huge progress in Afghanistan over the past two decades, and we will continue to use every diplomatic lever to safeguard human rights and the gains made over the last two decades.
As we approach the one-year anniversary of the Taliban taking power, we owe a huge debt of gratitude to the nearly 1 million British and American people who served in Afghanistan, the nearly 3,000 who sadly lost their lives, and to those who have sustained life-changing injuries. Since we first begun our operations, up to the tragic deaths of 13 American service members in the Kabul airport bombing during our evacuation, each man and woman who served and died will never be forgotten.
For 20 years, our troops have denied terrorists a safe haven to launch attacks against the West. And they enabled development that improved millions of lives and transformed Afghan society.
UK personnel may have left Afghanistan, but our steadfast commitment to the Afghan people remains strong. The U.K. has supported over 5,000 eligible individuals to leave Afghanistan since the Taliban took power, and this work continues. To date, the U.K. has successfully brought over 20,000 eligible people to safety, including British nationals and their families, Afghans who loyally served the UK, and others identified as particularly at-risk, including campaigners for women’s rights, human rights defenders, scholars, journalists, judges and members of the LGBT+ community.
We have continued to exert all diplomatic efforts to establish an inclusive political process in Afghanistan to create a country that works for all its people. Alongside the U.S., the U.K. has also taken a leading role in the humanitarian response to support the people of Afghanistan. We have been a key donor in the international effort to ensure significant aid is supporting Afghan citizens – aid which continues to feed millions of Afghans, provide life-saving health services and meet water, shelter and education needs. We distributed $347 million of humanitarian and development assistance for Afghanistan in the last financial year and have already distributed $170 million from our pledge of $347 million of aid this financial year. In 2021/22 alone the U.K. has provided 4.3 million people with emergency humanitarian support for health, water, sanitation and hygiene, protection, shelter, food, livelihoods and education.
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Yet there is still more work to be done. The deteriorating human rights situation is deeply concerning, and we are working to ensure that the Taliban live up to the promises they have made. We regularly press the Taliban on human rights priorities and work with our international partners to lobby against violations and abuses. As the prime minister’s special representative on Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict, I am especially committed to ensuring Afghan women have freedom over their own bodies and are given a voice to their own futures.
This week, I travel to the U.S. to meet my counterparts in the U.S. government to ensure we are in lockstep with our closest partner to continue championing equality and safety for women and girls. A top priority is helping all girls get back to school and Afghan women back into the workplace; educated, empowered women will contribute to economic development as well as peace and stability. We, alongside allies, continue to push the Taliban to deliver on this.
The resilience and bravery of the people of Afghanistan is forever cemented into our efforts to be a force for good on the global stage. Today and every day, the U.K. and the U.S. — our day-one, night-one partner — will continue to use every lever at our disposal to improve stability and safety for the people of Afghanistan. International collaboration is crucial in ensuring the gains made in Afghanistan in the last 20 years are not lost.
