Afghan veteran Dan Jarvis say ex-soldiers are ‘heartbroken’ following Taliban takeover
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The ex-Paratrooper, who served two tours of Afghanistan and now represents Barnsley Central in Parliament, said families who lost loved ones especially will be questioning whether their sacrifice was worth it.
Mr Jarvis said: “This is churning up a lot of emotions for a lot of people who made a lot of sacrifices.
“It’s hit a lot of us very hard.
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Hide Ad“I have spoken to a lot of veterans, who are angry, frustrated, heartbroken about the situation in Afghanistan.
“We invested so much into that country, we all lost good friends who we served alongside and we are left wondering whether it was worth it, and it doesn’t feel like it was.
“That’s particularly hard to bear for families of British servicemen and women who lost their lives.
“We are trying to cope with the fact that time, blood, toil, sweat and tears we personally have put into that country, was not worth it, the sacrifice that was made.
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Hide Ad“That’s a really hard thing to come to terms with and a lot of people are struggling to come to terms with it.
“There’s a lot of people feeling really bad about how things have turned out.”
Mr Jarvis joined growing calls for Parliament to be recalled and for Prime Minister Boris Johnson to make a statement after what he described as “an absence of meaningful activity from the UK government” over the situation.
He added: “It’s a source of great shame to many of us that the Taliban are now in the ascendancy.
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Hide Ad“This is what political failure looks like. There’s been a complete failure of political leadership.”
Mr Jarvis, who rose the rank of major in the army before his political career, said there was “deep naivety” in believing the Afghan army and security forces could “hold the line” without the help of the West.
And he said it is in our own national interest to help the Afghans, otherwise the country will descend into a lawless state providing a safe harbour for terrorists.