Our allies risked their lives — and we abandoned them

The British think their word is their bond. But that’s not the prevailing view, least of all in Afghanistan

- Sam Kiley

Perfidious Albion, in modern terms, means that when it comes to international affairs, Britain is seen as treacherous and unreliable – and has turned mendacity into an art. Students of imperial history will recall the hundreds of treaties signed with local chiefs, kings and leaders that were waved aside in the interests of the empire.

The French call their deep distrust of Les Anglo-Saxons “Fashoda syndrome” - named after a sordid episode of British duplicity that delivered an obscure bit of southern Sudan to the UK in the 19th century, and triggered the enduring distrust of our closest neighbour up to this day.

Now we have the Kabul cock-up. It will inevitably serve to undermine Britain’s woeful and feeble international reputation - and drive some of those who have been betrayed into the arms of our enemies.

The disastrous accidental release of up to 100,000 names and numbers of Afghans seeking safety in the UK, a noble but feeble effort to save some of them, and the desperate cover-up using the courts to ensure that the British public knew nothing of the whole farrago, can only be reported now, two years after it was uncovered.

The official reason for a superinjunction to hide the mess was to protect Afghans who wanted to get out of Afghanistan before the Taliban found and killed them. But their numbers, emails, and names were already in the public domain as a result of the leak.