THE political shockwaves of the Afghan situation and the way forward were the topics raised by columnists and contributors in the newspapers.

The Daily Mail

Stephen Glover said the Prime Minister has made his fair share of mistakes but the disintegration of Afghanistan can’t be pinned on him.

“The heart-rending developments of the past few days had their roots in decisions either made before he entered No. 10, or else arrived at unilaterally in Washington without the Government being consulted,” he argued. “And yet to hear many MPs speak, you’d think he was the sole author of the fiasco.”

He said the truth is that the Prime Minister inherited a hopeless situation.

“He can be blamed for many things but not for the legacy he inherited. The petty politicians who opportunistically train their guns on him refuse to understand what really happened.”

The Daily Express

Leo McKinstry said the Afghan ‘debacle’ was a final, crushing blow to the last few shards of Tony Blair’s already shattered reputation as a political leader.

“After the attack on the Twin Towers in 2001, Blair was the most eloquent passionate advocate of co-ordinated military action in Afghanistan,” he said. “Brimming with his messianic zeal, he promised the defeat of jihadism and the promotion of freedom.

“Blair’s disastrous Afghan policy is just one part of an extraordinary catalogue of failure at home and abroad. He posed as a humanitarian warrior and progressive reformer, yet the long-term consequences of his decisions have been misery, turmoil, instability and even carnage.”

The Guardian

Mark Malloch-Brown, a former UN deputy secretary general, said this was a moment when a ‘moribund UN security council could recover real global leadership and spell out a united way forward.’

“There would have to be undertakings from the Taliban to respect human rights in a way that the UN would be empowered to monitor and verify,” he said.

“The international community owes it to the people of Afghanistan to deliver concrete action – to protect individuals and communities at risk, to deliver humanitarian aid, to spell out real consequences for what is at stake for the Taliban. The security council must rise to the occasion and offer the Taliban both carrot and stick.”