Speaker 1: Let's try Matthew from the U.K.. Matthew, I flew over the U.K.
recently a couple of days ago. Speaker 3: Good afternoon, David. Thank
you for having me. My pleasure. So I was watching I think this Afghanistan is the reason why I came
on today. Is this because Afghanistan is obviously relevant for both Anglo American and international
issues? Yes. And I was watching the House of Commons today, which is our elected chamber,
and they were discussing about, you know, the failure of Afghanistan. It was a full house for
the first time for quite a while. And it got me thinking they you know, we've committed to
allowing in the government only at the moment five thousand refugees a year. But I'm just interested
to see what what more can what you think more can be done, because obviously Afghanistan
has got a population of about 38 million and simply allowing in 20000 refugees is not going
to provide protection for millions of people. And I believe Britain and America through this
long tunnel is still a very strong duty of care to Afghanistan. The people of Afghanistan. Yes.
Speaker 1: I completely agree with you about that debt,
did you have a specific question? Speaker 3: Yeah, I was just saying,
what do you think we can do from now on, apart from taking in refugees? Do you think that
there's anything we can do to ensure stability? Speaker 1: And perhaps I mean, here's the thing.
Everything we seem to try fails miserably, you know, so so it's like, are we are we almost better
off? I'm saying we as the United States, should the U.S. just stay the hell out of it? Should our
help be restricted to being through humanitarian organizations only no more military, no more
contractors? I don't I don't know. I mean, I you know, we want to do something for the people,
but we just seem to step in it and do more harm than good.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I completely agree, I feel that the last 20 years has taught the light
militaristic nation building is often a very problematic and very difficult odds are often
stacked against you. Yeah, I just hope that this time with this refugee crisis, which will probably
occur, I hope that we, the West, can take a more less cynical approach to it, because obviously
with Syria in the last few years, we've seen a major rise in Islamophobia. Yeah. Across the and
I just think that this can be a time for us to, you know, at least try and, you know, hopefully do
something right. Sorry if I'm not sounding like I'm making much sense. I'm just a bit nervous.
Speaker 1: No, you're doing great. Yeah. I mean, listen, I agree with you. My desire
is the same as yours. I just don't know, you know, US involvement just scares me because
it's been so disastrous for 20 years. Speaker 3: Yeah, I completely agree and
I think the same approach and, you know, I think this is an issue which, you know,
as if I'm to represent Britain, we should hold our hands up and say, but I think that, you know,
the least we can do is, is let refugees in. And it's just about sitting in the Commons today.
Then some you know, the government, our government almost debate this issue as if we don't owe a
duty of care to especially to people or what help the British government and the American
government. So I think that's another contentious issue that's almost sometimes
a lack of responsibility or even their own people. Speaker 1: Yeah, and part of it part of the
people saying we have to stay are people rightly saying, well, we broke it, we have to stay until
it's fixed. But the problem is the longer we stay, the longer we guarantee it's not
fixed. But that doesn't absolve us of our responsibility to the people. And I think
that's the best kind of final point on it. Speaker 3: Yeah, I completely agree,
and I've just got one more question sorry I've been reading about the BBC did a little like kind
of review of Biden's speech on Afghanistan. And I was just wondering whether you think that some of
the things he said in that are going to affect his not necessarily his popularity, but his reputation
internationally, like he said, that the Afghan military collapsed with, you know, without some
time, without trying to fight. And I think that many people abroad, especially in Afghanistan,
are going to find that very insensitive, especially with how many. Obviously, the media
in Britain and America often downplays the amount of lives which were lost for Afghani troops.
Speaker 1: I think it will certainly look very bad in Afghanistan. I think it will
not have a major impact in the global west. Speaker 3: Yeah, OK, yeah, that makes sense. So,
yeah, it's just interesting because of is from an outsider perspective, this
Biden's administration was I was really like I thought it was going quite well,
so smooth and stuff like that. And it's just amazing how even in what it is,
it's amazing. The absolutely absolute it's Speaker 1: been a drastic change and we'll
see how it plays out in twenty, twenty two. I appreciate the call, my friend. OK, thank you.
Speaker 3: Sorry for rushing you David. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1: All right, there we go. And we are going to go to a break.
I'm sorry I wasn't able to speak to everybody, but we will speak to more people very soon