British veterans of the Afghanistan war have described their sacrifice as a “pointless waste of time”, 25 years after the September 11 attacks triggered the Western intervention that ultimately ended with the Taliban returning to power.
More than two decades of fighting came to an abrupt conclusion in August 2021, when Taliban forces seized Kabul in just ten days as Nato troops withdrew. The collapse left veterans questioning the purpose of a conflict in which 457 British service personnel died and 2,188 were wounded in action, according to Ministry of Defence figures.
The UK’s evacuation operation, codenamed Operation Pitting, airlifted more than 15,000 people from Kabul on 100 flights before it ended on 28 August 2021. But the hurried withdrawal also left many Afghans behind and brought an end to the fragile freedoms established during the Western presence.
Under Taliban rule, girls remain barred from secondary education and women have been progressively excluded from public life. Human rights organisations have also reported arbitrary arrests, torture, executions and trials that fail to meet basic standards of fairness.
‘We have nothing to show for it’
Former Royal Marine Commando Ben McBean was 20 when an improvised explosive device detonated in Kajaki, southern Afghanistan, in 2008. The blast threw him 20ft into the air, costing him his right leg and left arm.
Now 39, Mr McBean also lost two friends during his deployment and has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. He said he remained proud of his service but believed the wider mission had achieved little lasting benefit.
“I’m proud of what we did on the ground but the whole thing was an absolute waste of time because we have nothing to show for it,” he said.
“We spent 20 years wasting money on the war only for the Taliban to take Afghanistan back to the way it was before.”
Mr McBean said the withdrawal had left him with “a natural rage”, arguing that the progress made while British troops were there had been reversed. He is now raising money for a bionic arm and said injured veterans continued to struggle with the physical and psychological consequences of the war.
“I fought for my country, saw friends get killed and I lost two of my limbs,” he said. “But the war has been forgotten about and veterans have been forgotten about.”
He added that he did not regret joining the Royal Marines, but would not want to fight for politicians who sent troops into conflicts without a clear long-term plan.
‘We saw our friends die and lose limbs’
Gemma Gardner, 45, served with the Adjutant General’s Corps and was deployed to Lashkar Gah in 2009. Her room at a forward operating base stood opposite a medical tent where wounded soldiers were brought in after attacks.
She recalled leaving her room at about 5am and seeing troops arriving on stretchers with catastrophic injuries. Later, while stationed at Camp Bastion, she regularly watched the bodies of British personnel being repatriated.
“It wasn’t worth it when you think about the amount of lives that were lost and the families who lost husbands, fathers, wives and mothers,” she said.
Ms Gardner said many soldiers had served without understanding the political objective of the campaign, leaving them angry and frustrated once they returned home.
“We saw our friends die and lose limbs – but for what?” she said. “Not only were all those lives lost and all those bodies to bring home but sometimes only part of them – and then how many more were medically discharged as a result?”
She said she did not regret deploying, but believed the invasion had not been necessary. “I feel hurt and pain over the war, but not anger like some other veterans,” she said.
‘It was absolutely heartbreaking’
Former Royal Engineers sapper Jack Cummings was 22 when both his legs were blown off above the knee while he was searching for bombs in Babaji, near Lashkar Gah, in 2010.
He spent 30 days in a coma, six months in intensive care and three-and-a-half years undergoing rehabilitation. Mr Cummings later won a bronze medal at the Invictus Games and completed the wheelchair race at the London Marathon.
Despite those achievements, the 38-year-old said he still felt “pure frustration and anger” at the speed with which the Afghan government and army collapsed after years of Western training and investment.
“Considering where Afghanistan was before the war and where it has got to, the amount of money, effort and training spent on the Afghan National Army just to see the country collapse in days – and now it’s in a worse state than before… of course, it hurts,” he said.
“When Afghanistan collapsed it was absolutely heartbreaking. It was a total clusterf**k in Kabul, it was like ‘how has this happened?’”
Mr Cummings said he remained proud of his work clearing routes of explosives, which he believed had saved soldiers and civilians from being killed. But after being medically discharged, he said he had felt abandoned and had been forced to rely on charities for support.
“When I was injured I was in the best care, but after I was medically discharged it was a bit like ‘thanks, see you later’ and I’ve had to rely on certain charities for help,” he said.
The veterans’ comments come as the legacy of the Afghanistan campaign is again being examined on the 25th anniversary of the attacks on New York and Washington that set the war on terror in motion.
For those who served, the debate is not about whether they carried out their duties with courage, but whether the political aims justified the lives lost and injuries suffered.
