Afghanistan: Ex-national security adviser slams Dominic Raab’s failure to make call while on holiday

A former national security adviser has criticised Dominic Raab’s failure to make a crucial call to help fleeing Afghan interpreters while on holiday, saying: ‘He should have made it’.

Kim Darroch said officials only contacted ministers while they are on holiday if they considered it “absolutely essential” for them to intervene in a vital issue.

“If they were recommending this call strongly, then I think he should have made it,” Sir Kim said.

The intervention came after a defiant Mr Raab vowed to defy calls to resign, as he was filmed walking into Downing Street for a meeting at No 10.

The phone call was delegated to a junior minister, as the Taliban neared Kabul last Friday – as the foreign secretary reportedly declined to intervene personally from his Crete hotel.

Mr Raab is already under fierce pressure for failing to return from the Greek island until Monday morning, being seen on the beach the previous day – as the Afghanistan capital crumbled.

Downing Street has so far refused to comment on the controversy and on whether Boris Johnson retains confidence in his foreign secretary.

Sir Kim, who visited Afghanistan frequently, also suggested the quick collapse of the Afghan army should have been foreseen – after Mr Johnson said, only last month, there would be no Taliban military victory.

There was an “exceptionally high desertion rate” coupled with “endemic corruption” in both national and regional governments, he told BBC Radio 4.

It was also apparent that the Afghan army could not keep its “shiny new kit” in working order, without international support.

Foreign Office experts had been “quite pessimistic about the capacity for the Afghan military to hold out for a sustained period”, Sir Kim said.

He also warned that Joe Biden’s apparent refusal to accept Mr Johnson’s phone call for 36 hours at the start of the week exposed a special relationship not “in one of its really strong phases”.

The resignation calls came after the Daily Mail reported that, while in Crete, Mr Raab was urged by his officials to speak with his Afghan counterpart, Hanif Atmar.

Pressure was needed to secure help with the evacuation of translators who had worked with the British military, as the Taliban advanced on Kabul.

But, according to the report, officials were told that Mr Raab was not available and that a junior minister, Zac Goldsmith, should make the call instead.

As Lord Goldsmith was not Atmar’s direct equivalent, there was a delay until Saturday – and possibly Sunday, the day Kabul fell – before the request was made.

The Foreign Office acknowledged that Mr Raab did not make the call, saying: “The foreign secretary was engaged on a range of other calls and this one was delegated to another minister.”

Labour said he “should be ashamed” of his actions and questioned why he would not make a phone call if told “it could save somebody’s life”.

Lisa Nandy, the shadow foreign secretary, said: “How can Boris Johnson allow the foreign secretary to continue in his role after yet another catastrophic failure of judgment?

“If Dominic Raab doesn’t have the decency to resign, the prime minister must show a shred of leadership and sack him.”

The Liberal Democrats called for Raab to “resign today”, while the Scottish National Party said his position is “completely untenable and he must resign, or be sacked”.