Tony Blair has warned that the return of the Taliban will be cheered by “every jihadist group around the world,” adding that Western soldiers now have a moral duty to stay in Afghanistan until all those eligible have been evacuated.

Blair criticized the US motivations for the pullout as “imbecilic” and “driven not by grand strategy but by politics” in his first public remarks on the situation since the Afghan government fell last Weekend.

“The abandonment of Afghanistan and its people is tragic, dangerous, unnecessary, not in their interests and not in ours,” he writes. “In the aftermath of the decision to return Afghanistan to the same group from which the carnage of 9/11 arose, and in a manner which seems almost designed to parade our humiliation, the question which allies and enemies alike pose is: has the West lost its strategic will?

“The world is now uncertain of where the West stands because it is so obvious that the decision to withdraw from Afghanistan in this way was driven not by grand strategy but by politics.”

Blair also accused US President Joe Biden of acting “in obedience to an imbecilic political slogan about ending ‘forever wars,’ as if our engagement in 2021 was even remotely comparable to our commitment 20 or even 10 years ago.”

Many people were astonished at how fast the Taliban gained control when the United States withdrew its soldiers, and the situation has been described as “catastrophic.”

He urged the United States and the United Kingdom to fulfill their commitments to Afghans who had assisted them, amid fears that there may only be a few more days for aircraft to depart the country. President Biden has sent contradictory signals about how long the evacuation program would last, and the UK is unlikely to be able to continue its refugee processing once the US military leaves.

The former prime minister, whose reputation in the United Kingdom suffered as a result of the failure to find the alleged weapons of mass destruction that were used to justify the US-led coalition’s invasion of Iraq, said Britain has a “moral obligation” to stay in Afghanistan until everyone who needs to be evacuated is removed.

“We must evacuate and give sanctuary to those to whom we have responsibility – those Afghans who helped us and stood by us and have a right to demand we stand by them,” writes Blair. “There must be no repetition of arbitrary deadlines. We have a moral obligation to keep at it until all those who need to be are evacuated. And we should do so not grudgingly but out of a deep sense of humanity and responsibility.”

Britain, like other countries, is attempting to evacuate Afghan allies as well as its own nationals from Afghanistan, but with an August 31 deadline looming, it’s a race against time.

Presidents of the United States have stated for years that they would decrease or remove soldiers from a war that is highly unpopular among American taxpayers.

“It is a source of deep sadness for many of us across Nato, and no one wanted 20 years of sacrifice to end this way. We will do our best to the very last moment,” UK defence secretary Ben Wallace wrote in an article published in the Mail on Sunday.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, who has been chastised for being on vacation when Kabul fell, admitted late Saturday that Moscow and Beijing will now play a larger role in Afghanistan.

“We’re going to have to bring in countries with a potentially moderating influence like Russia and China, however uncomfortable that is,” he told the Sunday Telegragh.

“It will give us a group to exercise greater influence and better convey our messages to the Taliban.”

Blair said that Britain’s position on the international stage was dwindling due to the lack of consultation it received before the US exit. “For Britain, out of Europe and suffering the end of the Afghanistan mission by our greatest ally with little or no consultation, we have serious reflection to do,” he states. “We don’t see it yet. But we are at risk of relegation to the second division of global powers. Maybe we don’t mind. But we should at least take the decision deliberatively.”

Blair acknowledged that mistakes had been committed during the previous two decades, but said that military operations can have noble intentions, particularly when confronting a severe Islamist danger.

“Today we are in a mood which seems to regard the bringing of democracy as a utopian delusion and intervention virtually of any sort as a fool’s errand.” he said.

His remarks came amid rising dissatisfaction with Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s handling of the situation, which has included allegations that Britain has been much too ineffective.