The closure of Bagram changed the mood in our embassy. At the morning meeting of the senior embassy staff I asked the team to test the closure plan. Testing a contingency plan of this sort means going through it meticulously, working out what you would do in a range of scenarios. … You need to…

Overnight on 1-2 July US forces pulled out from Bagram airbase. Bagram, a Soviet-era airbase about 50 km north of Kabul, had been the linchpin of US and NATO operations throughout the 20-year campaign. … The news broke as the USA was going into the 4 July Independence Day holiday weekend. In Washington, President Biden…

I asked my staff to set up calls on the ambassadors of Russia, China and Iran. These countries are some of our most difficult international partners. But they have important interests, and play significant roles in the region.  As NATO’s forces withdrew, the leadership of each of these countries was having to reassess and recalibrate…