Twenty years ago, when then-U.S. President George W. Bush triumphantly ordered the start of the war in Afghanistan, then-British Prime Minister Tony Blair was his staunch ally. And 20 years later, on September 6, 2021, Blair, a British think tank, admitted in his speech that his generation of Western leaders "naively thought that a country could really be reshaped, or that it would take a little longer to rebuild."
And the rest of what he said was more informative.
On September 6, Blair gave a speech at a Think Tank in the UK
According to Sky TV, Blair spoke at the British think tank Royal Tri-Service Institute (RUSI), which coincided with the 20th anniversary of 9/11. 20 years ago, Blair was the first British prime minister to order British forces to participate in the war in Afghanistan.
In his speech, Blair said the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan shows that the United States is now less and less interested in military involvement, "it is clear that this may not have been the case in the past, but the United States has little interest in sending troops to military involvement in the foreseeable future." But he believes that while Western society and politicians are concerned about armed forces casualties, the deployment of ground forces is necessary because the use of drones and special forces alone in response to terrorist attacks has great limitations.
U.S. Marines publicly evacuate Kabul for 8 minutes (screenshot of video)
Blair said Islamic State extremists remain a "first-level security threat" and that if left unchecked, "danger will come to us." The West must engage with China, Russia and other Muslim countries to work together to counter extremist attacks. "If the enemy we're fighting finds that our political will will will back down as long as they can inflict more casualties, then this incentive is clear."
It is imperative, Blair argues, that the West understand how to step up counterterrorism without the United States is a particular challenge for European countries, and for Britain, "whether you like it or not, the United Kingdom is part of Europe."
"The most alarming development of recent events for me is the West's growing inability to structure strategies," Blair said, adding that "the need for short-term political decision-making is always squeezing the space for long-term thinking," a consciousness that makes our allies increasingly anxious and our adversaries realize that "our time is over."
Blair also spoke about covid-19, declaring that "the new crown virus has taught us how deadly the virus is." He went on to warn that it might seem like science fiction if extremist terrorist groups began to launch their efforts on biological weapons in the future, but he believed that it was necessary to prepare for the threat created by non-state actors as early as possible.
Source: Global Network/Qiao Bingxin Winter Melon Man
Column Editor-in-Chief: Zhang Wu Text Editor: Lu Xiaochuan Caption Source: Xinhua News Agency Photo Editor: Shao Jing
Source: Author: World Wide Web