The mess in Afghanistan exposes Britain’s foolish security policy

DURING DEBATE in Parliament and in unattributed briefings, British MPs, ministers and officials have used language to describe America’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, and America’s leader, rarely heard from such mouths. The withdrawal was “shameful”, “dishonourable” and “catastrophic”. President Joe Biden was “gaga” and “doolally”. Tony Blair, the prime minister who sent British forces into Afghanistan at America’s behest in 2001, wrote an article calling the withdrawal “imbecilic”. Other reports, soon denied, claimed that the current prime minister, Boris Johnson, had referred to Mr Biden by the pejorative coined by his predecessor, Donald Trump: “Sleepy Joe”.