Prime minister Boris Johnson is ‘sleep walking into this crisis’

• WE have all watched on in horror at the images emerging from Afghanistan.

Now the Taliban has recaptured Afghanistan, women and girls will likely lose their right to health care, education and self-determination.

Religious and ethnic minorities in Afghanistan will almost certainly face brutal persecution. And LGBT+ Afghans face the very real prospect of execution.

Tens of thousands of Afghans who worked tirelessly alongside the British armed forces, often at great personal risk, now find themselves at the mercy of the Taliban.

Our prime minister and foreign secretary had 18 months to prepare for, and avoid, any Taliban takeover in Afghanistan. Yet they failed to prepare; sleep walking into this crisis.

The people of Afghanistan and our brave troops have been let down by this careless government.

In parliament Sir Keir Starmer was right to take the prime minister and foreign secretary to task for their catalogue of failures.

We echo Sir Keir’s message to veterans, “Your sacrifice was not in vain. You brought stability, reduced the terrorist threat and enabled progress. We are all proud of what you did”.

We support Labour’s call for the government to do everything it can to safely and speedily evacuate the British and Afghan citizens most at risk in Afghanistan.

We applaud Camden Labour’s pledge to welcome Afghan families into the borough and to help them rebuild their lives here.

We encourage all who can to donate to charities like Afghanaid and the International Rescue Committee. This will fund their work assisting those most impacted by this terrible crisis.

This government has been asleep at the wheel. They need to wake up and finally provide some much-needed leadership.

SIGNATORIES: SAGAL ABDI-WALI CHAIR OF HOLBORN & ST PANCRAS LABOUR PARTY; STEVE CRABB CHAIR OF HAMPSTEAD & KILBURN LABOUR PARTY; CLLR GEORGIA GOULD; CLLR DANNY BEALES; CLLR RISHI MADLANI; CLLR JONATHAN SIMPSON; CLLR RICHARD OLSZEWSKI; CLLR LORNA RUSSELL; CLLR ADAM HARRISON; CLLR MARCUS BOYLAND; CLLR ADBUL HAI; ANNE CLARKE AM; LLOYD HATTON; REBECCA FILER; SUSIE GILBERT; MARTIN PLAUT; DR SARAH GRACE CLARK; DAN COUSINS; GILL BLACK; GEORGIA KAUFMANN; GARETH WILLIAMS; VALERIE METCALF; SUNA PARLAK; CLAUDIE RUNDA-JEFFERSON; LIAM MARTIN-LANE; ALISTAIR GEAR; SUE CHANTRELL; TERRY GILBERT; MICHAELA CHRISTIE BAKER; HENRY LAMPRECHT; PATRICK FRENCH; RICHARD ARTHUR; JANE STEEDMAN; MARCUS STORM; GAIL BRACKETT; ELIZABETH GOODBURN; MICHAEL WAY; GILES WRIGHT; JONATHAN SALE; DIANA AUBREY; MIKE KATZ; NINA DE AYALA PARKER; PATRICIA LEMAN; WILLIAM BRITAIN; SARAH SACKMAN; JAMES SLATER; PENNY DAVID; BARBARA FOSTER; WILLIAM ELKINS; DR JILL FRANKLIN; JOSEPHINE BURNS; MARK GUTHRIE; RIA BERNARD; BEN WEST; DR JOAN SCANLON; SHARON HARDWICK; ANDREW BLOW; SYLVIA MCNAMARA; PATRICIA WALBY; HELENE REARDON-BOND; LORNA GREENWOOD.