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London Rejects Claims PM Johnson Angry Over US Troops' Swift Exit From Afghanistan

© AFP 2023 / Romeo GacadIn this photo taken on August 5, 2011, US troops from the Charlie Company, 2-87 Infantry, 3d Brigade Combat Team under Afghanistan's International Security Assistance Force patrols Kandalay village following Taliban attacks on a joint US and Afghan National Army checkpoint protecting the western area of Kandalay village.
In this photo taken on August 5, 2011, US troops from the Charlie Company, 2-87 Infantry, 3d Brigade Combat Team under Afghanistan's International Security Assistance Force patrols Kandalay village following Taliban attacks on a joint US and Afghan National Army checkpoint protecting the western area of Kandalay village. - Sputnik International, 1920, 22.08.2021
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The Taliban* ramped up their military activity amid the US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, which culminated in militants capturing the capital Kabul without a fight on 15 August.
A Downing Street spokesperson has reportedly rejected allegations that UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson lashed out at US President Joe Biden over America's troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, which was allegedly slammed by London as a "furious" move and "a betrayal".
"These claims are categorically untrue. The prime minister has not criticised President Biden, and they have a very strong working relationship", the spokesperson was quoted by the Daily Mail as saying on Saturday.
They insisted that Johnson and Biden enjoyed a "warm and constructive" phone conversation earlier this week.
The spokesperson also denied claims that the UK prime minister was upset over Biden's victory in the 2020 US presidential election and that he ostensibly said at the time that it would have been "better" if Donald Trump had won a second term.
© REUTERS / US AIR FORCEU.S. soldiers, assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division, arrive to provide security in support of Operation Allies Refuge at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, August 20, 2021.
U.S. soldiers, assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division, arrive to provide security in support of Operation Allies Refuge at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, August 20, 2021. - Sputnik International, 1920, 07.09.2021
U.S. soldiers, assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division, arrive to provide security in support of Operation Allies Refuge at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, August 20, 2021.
The remarks come amid reports that Johnson perceives POTUS as a "lightweight" and "inward-looking", allegedly feeling that the UK was "betrayed" by the swift pullout of US troops from Afghanistan.
In a televised interview late last week, the PM acknowledged the Taliban's* victory in the nearly 20-year war with the US and its NATO allies as he referred to the militant group seizing power in Afghanistan on 15 August.
When asked whether he would have expected the nation to fall to the Taliban so quickly, Johnson said: "I think it's fair to say that the US decision to pull out has accelerated things".
"I think it's very important that the West, collectively, should work together to get over to that new government, be it by the Taliban or anybody else, that nobody wants Afghanistan once again to be a breeding ground for terror", he stressed.
UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace, however, took a more bellicose stance toward the US, slamming what he called a "rotten deal" reached between then-US President Donald Trump and the Taliban* last year that stipulated the withdrawal of American and NATO troops from Afghanistan within 14 months.
© REUTERS / Simon DawsonBritain's Defence Secretary Ben Wallace
Britain's Defence Secretary Ben Wallace - Sputnik International, 1920, 07.09.2021
Britain's Defence Secretary Ben Wallace
"It saddens me that the deal picked apart a lot of what had been achieved in Afghanistan over 20 years. We'll probably be back in ten or 20 years. But acting now is not possible. The damage was done with the deal", Wallace said.
In a separate interview with Sky News, he admitted that the Taliban is "in control" of Afghanistan, adding that British troops "are not going to go back" to the country.
In this file photo dated Wednesday, March 25, 2020, British troops with NATO-led Resolute Support Mission forces travel, in Kabul, Afghanistan. Dozens of former military commanders are calling on the U.K. government to relocate more of the Afghans who worked with British troops over the last 20 years, arguing that they are likely to be murdered by the Taliban as foreign forces pull out. Retired Gen. Richard Dannatt, the former chief of the General Staff, and other senior leaders of the campaign in Afghanistan, are urging the government to expand its relocation program to include interpreters and other support staff who were dismissed for minor infractions.  - Sputnik International, 1920, 14.08.2021
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UK Reportedly Plans to Evacuate Ambassador From Afghanistan, End Diplomatic Presence There
On 15 August, the Taliban completed their takeover of Afghanistan by entering Kabul, which led to the collapse of President Ashraf Ghani's government. Ghani fled Kabul and then arrived in the United Arab Emirates, while many Afghans tried to leave the country out of fear of reprisals from Taliban militants.
Russian Ambassador Dmitry Zhirnov has, meanwhile, said that "there are no demonstrations" against the militant group in Kabul and that life has returned to normal there.
He added that the situation in the Afghan capital is "fine" for the eighth day in a row, with shops opening and the Taliban taking control of policing in the city.
*The Taliban is a terrorist organisation banned in Russia and many other countries
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