Return of the Taliban

I was lucky enough and more than happy to get out of Afghanistan in November 2001, about 10 days before the Taliban regime fell. Intact. Working as a photographer for The Daily Telegraph, I, and a group of other journalists, had spent 3 days as their 'guests' in a compound in Spin Boldak, Khandahar province, next to Helmand. The regime leaders had  tried a PR offensive, a little late in the day.A few press conferences, a lot of hanging around. But the game was up.

Taliban fighters in Spin Boldak, Khandahar, Afghanistan in November 2001. Picture by James Fraser

After three days, they returned us to the relative safety of the Pakistani border town of Chaman. When the regime finally fell, we saw our Taliban hosts walk unhindered through the AfPak border checkpoint, beards trimmed and weapons absent, and being embraced by Pakistani soldiers. A Taliban soldier who had been with us in Spin Boldak, approached me and with a rib-crushing bear hug, said " Good luck my friend!" and then melted into the crowd. The West's victory blinded our politicians to one inescapable fact. The border was a sieve. The Taliban would be back. Twelve years on, 444 British soldiers lost( up to May 2013), four times as many injured, £37 billion spent, and counting, and Hamid Karzai, the Mayor Of Kabul says we've let him down. Count on one thing next year. The Taliban will be back in government and Karzai will do a runner, enjoying exile with millions of pounds of our money in his back pocket. The lesson learnt? Ummm, errrr.....