The report of the shooting of four Eritreans by Afghans near Calais reminds me of the meeting I had with President Ghani of Afghanistan, but first it should remind us all, in these times of acrimonious negotiations over Brexit, just what a burden the French are putting up with.
The Afghans will have gone through all sorts of privations and misery in Afghanistan, on their journey, and living rough around Calais. So we should always be very careful before we judge.
Nevertheless, back to that meeting. I raised the problem that we were having in securing Afghan co-operation at official level in our attempts to return failed asylum seekers. He said that he would address the issue but that he was a ‘war president’ and that his first duty must be to the young men and women who were taking the fight to the Taliban, and not to those who had abandoned his country.