A Newark Afghanistan veteran "heartbroken" to see Taliban take control
John Lee says the country is back to where it was at the start of the war
A Newark military veteran says Afghanistan has been "handed over" to the Taliban "within two weeks" despite years of sacrifice by him and the people he served with.
John "Johno" Lee, who is now a councillor for Newark and Sherwood district council, lost a leg fighting in the country in 2007.
John was speaking after the Taliban invaded the country's capital Kabul. A spokesperson for the group claimed that the war was over and that they'd now seized 90% of all government buildings.
Last night US president Joe Biden said that he stood "squarely" behind the decision to pull US troops out of the country.
John said " It kind of brought it home last week when Gereshk fell. That's where we held, that's where I lost my leg. To see that fall in such an easy way. And to see that last night the leader of Afghanistan left the country, it's kind of heart-breaking given the sacrifice that ourselves, the Americans and the coalitions gave, just to see it thrown away overnight."
"When the Americans decided they wanted to pull out we had no option but to pull out as well. We'd have been absolutely slaughtered on our own. There should have been more support for the people of Afghanistan."