The figures - gathered by a network of Afghan veterans - reveal the scale of what one former UK general calls a “betrayal” and a “disgrace”.
The soldiers fled to Pakistan, which now says it will expel Afghan refugees.
The UK says it has brought thousands of Afghans to safety.
Gen Sir Richard Barrons, who served the British Army in Afghanistan over 12 years, told BBC Newsnight that the failure of the UK to relocate these soldiers “is a disgrace, because it reflects that either we’re duplicitous as a nation or incompetent”.
“Neither are acceptable,” he said. “It is a betrayal, and the cost of that betrayal will be people who served with us will die or spend their lives in prison.”
That’s fair.
If gov’ts had focused on repairing/replacing the infrastructure the Soviets had demolished and rebuilt schools, mosques, markets, roads, etc instead of barreling in like a “great white savior” it would have been much different.
Honestly there was so much potential to do good. Both in Afghanistan and Iraq. But we came in with guns blazing instead of trying to understand and integrate local people into a thriving economy and government.