MP claims Afghanistan is transformed

Conservative MP Tobias Ellwood has posted a video on Twitter claiming Afghanistan is "a country transformed".

Ellwood is chair of the Commons Defence Committee and recently visited Afghanistan.

In the tweet accompanying the video, Ellwood said that security is vastly improved, corruption reduced and the opium trade ended since the Taliban took control.

In the video, Ellwood claims that Afghanistan is accepting a more authoritarian leadership in exchange for stability. He says that the streets of Kabul are relatively safe and businesses are reopening. Ellwood states that there is a calm across the country that elders say has not been experienced since the 1970s.

The BBC fact checked some of his claims. According to United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), opium cultivation in 2022 was up by 32% compared with 2021.

On the claim that security is vastly improved, the BBC cited a UN survey conducted earlier this year which revealed that 68 per cent women believed their physical safety was "very bad" or "bad". Ellwood was also shown wearing what appeared to be a bullet proof vest in the video.

Ellwood calls for the British embassy to re-open and to "re-engage".

The video was retweeted by Taliban chief spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid.

Ellwood has been strongly criticised for the video, with people pointing out that refugees who have left Afghanistan would not be safe to return and the massive curtailment of rights that the Taliban have imposed on women.

Diana Johnson DBE MP, Hull North Labour MP and chair of Home Affairs Select Committee said: "Yes  a country transformed-52% of population have vanished. Women appear nowhere in this video.Girls banned from school. Women banned from university. Women aid workers banned. Businesses run by women closed. Women erased from public life. Women’s Human Rights denied."

Ellwood has since backtracked on his comments and has deleted the tweet.

Speaking to TalkTV's Piers Morgan Uncensored, Ellwood said he "got it wrong".

He said: "It's important to put your hand up and acknowledge errors, however well intentioned.

"I stand up, I speak my mind. I try and find solutions especially on the international stage, and I'm very, very sorry that my reflection of my visit could have been much better worded and have been taken out of context."

Image: UK Parliament, CC BY 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons