I set off for Kabul on 13 June 2021. An overnight flight changing in Dubai, then a three-hour hop across the Gulf, Iran and Pakistan, before descending over majestic mountains and desert into Kabul. I travelled light: a couple of large bags and a backpack. The first rule of such postings is: do not take anything you are not prepared to leave behind. You might have to leave in a hurry.
We headed into the centre of town, the drivers weaving deftly through Kabul’s anarchic traffic, always keeping moving, eyes everywhere. Both the driver and the close protection officer had assault rifles tucked beside their seats.
A modest brass plate by the residence door bore the royal crest, and announced: ‘Residence of HBM Ambassador to Afghanistan’….
In the private flat was an armoured refuge into which the close protection team hustled me during security lockdowns. If the alert was particularly serious one of them would sit with me in case we needed to extract from the building. It is a bit like sitting in a wardrobe, with a heavily armed young man or woman, radios and adrenalin crackling, the occasional bead of sweat running down your neck….
Also on 14 June we passed our hard deadline for a decision on whether the embassy could stay open after the NATO withdrawal or would have to close. This deadline felt like a significant moment: a moment when you realise that you are crossing a threshold and there is no going back to how things were before.
The 14 June NATO summit took place in Brussels. President Biden and President Erdoğan of Turkey met, with the intention on the USA side of securing Erdoğan’s agreement that Turkey’s capable military should take lead responsibility for securing Kabul airport.
The Taliban made it clear that they did not agree to Turkish forces being deployed to the airport.
Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Qureshi, speaking at a conference in Islamabad on 14 June, said that Pakistan’s long-standing policy of ‘strategic depth’ was now obsolete.
In this fast-moving and increasingly dangerous situation, who was setting the agenda? Who had leverage over whom?