Britain’s Afghanistan Shame and the Jason Arday Tragedy

**Rory Stewart** (0:04)
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**Alastair Campbell** (0:19)
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**Rory Stewart** (0:27)
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**Alastair Campbell** (0:53)
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**Rory Stewart** (0:59)
That's nordvpn.com/rest is politics. The links in the episode description.
Five years ago this month, the last plane left Kabul. 20 years, $2,000 billion spent, 457 British dead. And this week, the anniversary, no statement from London, no statement from Washington, no statement from NATO. None of them are saying anything about it. Here's what makes this hard to talk about honestly. Go to Afghanistan and you will find that the security is better than it's been anytime in 40 years. Nobody's shaking you down at checkpoints. You can have a picnic by the roadside.
I've seen it. It's what Afghans will tell you. But at the same time, 2.4 million girls are currently locked out of secondary school. The UN rapporteur is calling it a crime against humanity, gender apartheid. Both of these things are true at once, and there are 14 million people facing malnutrition and hunger. One in nine getting any food from the World Food Programme. So what did 20 years actually buy? What do we owe the Afghans that we promised to protect? And does sanctioning a government like the Taliban punish the government, or does it punish tens of millions of Afghans?
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**Alastair Campbell** (2:20)
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**Rory Stewart** (3:13)
Visit fuseenergy.com for full terms and conditions. Welcome to The Rest Is Politics with me, Rory Stewart.

**Alastair Campbell** (3:29)
And me, Alastair Campbell.

**Rory Stewart** (3:30)
Number of things to be getting on with today. We've got Afghanistan, we want to talk about what's happened in Afghanistan five years on. You had some very interesting issues that you wanted to bring up and discuss around Russia, parties in Russia in particular, the one anti-war party being banned from running and what's happening to grain exports. And we were also going to touch on Jason Arday.

**Alastair Campbell** (3:53)
A lot to get through. It's been quite a week. Where are you? You look like you're in yet another kind of quite weird hotel.

**Rory Stewart** (4:00)
Well, I am in fact in Edinburgh. And on my way in, I must say I saw a Grace Campbell ad. Because as you will be aware, your daughter is performing here in Edinburgh. So she is quick plug for grace.

**Alastair Campbell** (4:12)
You should go and see her.
It's your wife's birthday today. You should take her to the show at the Gilded Balloon. 8:30 p.m. The lady is a tramp. That's what the show is called.