The blast at Kabul airport, the subsequent US retaliation, and the Taliban’s condemnation of America’s so-called unilateral action has maybe distracted us from the criticism of the British government’s failure to evacuate hundreds of Afghans eligible for asylum in the UK. That failure could be permitted had Britain under Boris Johnson and his Brexiteer-dominated Conservative government not been hailing the role of the post-EU UK as “Global Britain,” able to stretch its agile forces to the South China Sea while also sending its maritime border patrol forces to intercept migrants attempting to cross the English Channel. To add insult to injury, the rescuing of about 150 cats and dogs belonging to an English charity showed that a mere one man’s effort and determination succeeded where organs of government under Johnson and his absent foreign minister failed. Prime Minister Johnson hailed a mission “unlike anything we have seen in our lifetimes” after the UK airlifted 15,000 UK nationals and Afghan former employees to safety within two weeks after the Taliban routed the country’s Western-backed government in a matter of a few days. Johnson praised the evacuation efforts in “harrowing conditions,” despite the criticism leveled against his government from current and former officials for failing to rescue many more, with thousands of emails asking for help on behalf of vulnerable Afghans left unopened. The Observer newspaper, citing a whistle-blower, confirmed that thousands of emails from charities and MPs were not dealt with despite their content, which highlighted specific risks to people and entities as a result of the Taliban takeover. The newspaper said it had seen evidence of a government email account set up by the UK Foreign Office to receive such pleas had 5,000 unopened emails last week, including messages from the leader of the opposition, Sir Keir Starmer, and from the offices of serving ministers. The main culprit, it seems, is Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, who was late to cancel his vacation when the Taliban took total control of Afghanistan. Despite the Foreign Office’s quick response to assure everyone that it operated a 24/7 triage system of incoming emails and phone calls, it remains unclear how many deserving British nationals and Afghans were left without help. The key question that all UK officials have failed to answer is how many more could they have saved. In view of the chaos and last-minute realization that the government in Afghanistan had crumbled and withered away unexpectedly, the number must be in the thousands. The truth is that the West has again failed the Afghans, who, in their majority — just like any country — are a peace-loving people. Another baffling question that will remain without an answer is how could ex-marine Paul “Pen” Farthing succeed in evacuating scores of rescued animals from Kabul after he managed to charter a plane to repatriate them to the UK, while the might of the British and US governments failed to secure the departure of key workers and allies who might perish under Taliban rule. The animals’ evacuation while people were left behind received a mixed reaction. Farthing was hailed a hero by supporters, but opponents questioned the ethics of using official time and military support to evacuate animals at such a critical time. Former head of the British Army Richard Dannatt said in a radio interview that it “looks odd that we’re giving prominence to one man and a lot of cats and dogs,” when the focus should be on why Britain did not prepare better when it knew the dangers faced by former interpreters and locally hired Afghan civilians under Taliban rule. He called for an inquiry to examine why the evacuation “happened in such a haphazard and chaotic fashion.” It remains unclear how many deserving British nationals and Afghans were left without help. Mohamed Chebaro Despite assurances that the UK government would work on helping Afghans leave the country in the final stages, it seems that Raab, who acknowledged that the Afghan situation was a “bitter pill to swallow,” even failed to reach out to third countries to guarantee smooth passage for Afghans wanting to flee their home country. An unnamed UK minister was quoted by The Sunday Times claiming that Raab “did nothing” to build necessary ties with third countries from which needy Afghans could enter the UK. Failing Afghanistan and its people will remain an axe to grind between people on all sides of the UK’s political divide and the current government, as well as between Afghans and the Western powers that abandoned their “forever war” in a chaotic and ill-conceived way, for decades to come. This will be against a backdrop of the Taliban and their satellite groupings likely morphing into Taliban 2.0, 3.0 or more. The world is unlikely to be safer for the Afghans or anyone else when the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks is marked in a matter of days. Mohamed Chebaro is a British-Lebanese journalist with more than 25 years’ experience covering war, terrorism, defense, current affairs and diplomacy. He is also a media consultant and trainer. 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