And yet, as much as he wanted to distance himself from the whole mess, he could understand why so many people, Jeff among them, were deeply concerned about these recent political upheavals. Even to the most limited understanding of the ordinary public watching the news broadcasts, it was clear that the US military withdrawal had been a complete and unmitigated disaster. From Ben’s experienced perspective as a former professional soldier it was even worse – and in fact he already knew much more about the depressing current situation in Afghanistan than he’d been willing to discuss with Jeff.

The occupying American troops had pulled out of the country so fast, ostensibly to reduce the risk of being attacked as they retreated, that they had left the Afghan security forces in chaos. With their American overseers suddenly no longer there to marshal them, corrupt officers had been reported to be stealing their men’s food and wages, even their ammunition. Police and military forces had crumbled in the face of the advancing Taliban, now emboldened by the American retreat and smelling victory.

Initially the embattled Afghan government, never much more than a puppet administration for the Americans, had declared it would stand and fight to prevent the Taliban from taking over the country. Ministers had delivered all the usual sabre-rattling speeches in which they promised to hold onto their proud homeland, just as they had kept it out of the hands of the Mujahideen for three whole years after the last invading army, the Soviets, had pulled out way back in 1989. Meanwhile, the reality was that, according to leaks from inside government itself, even as they stood there making these assurances to the Afghan public, almost all of those same ministers had already made arrangements to relocate their families outside the country. So much for standing their ground.