THE families of those who gave their lives in Afghanistan and all those who served have every right to be angry over the chaotic and tragic end to operations.

So says Bournemouth East MP Tobias Ellwood, who is chairman of the influential Commons Defence Select Committee.

Mr Ellwood told the Echo the sudden withdrawal had been a monumental error and raised major questions about the UK-US relationship.

He said: "The question of whether it was worth it is a very difficult one. What was it all for, if we were so quick to give it up and countries like Britain didn't hesitate to blindly follow in the footsteps of the US withdrawal?"

Speaking just before the US announced there would be no extension to next Tuesday's deadline, the former minister said: "Why didn't we stay the course if it was that important?

"The emotional journey for those who served and their families is going to be very painful. This is being reflected up and down the country with people saying, what was it for, that we didn't have the resolve to see it through. They have every right to be angry, they really do."

Mr Ellwood, who served in the Royal Green Jackets is a leading member of a small group of former service personnel in the Commons who have powerfully led the questioning of the government over the withdrawal.

The group that also includes Tom Tugendhat and Johnny Mercer. They command real authority in the House, more than most other MPs.

In Monday's interview Mr Ellwood, reserved his real anger for the US President.

“The world is a more dangerous place because of what Joe Biden has done. I am concerned we will have a terrorist attack somewhere in the world that will almost bookend 9/11 as we near the 20th anniversary.

"It could be anywhere, and as my brother found out, where Westerners go they are vulnerable.”

Jonathan Ellwood died in Bali bombing of 2002.

The MP said: "Clearly the US has ignored allies’ advice and I say that as someone who born in the United States and has dual nationality."

Mr Ellwood was born in New York and later educated in Bonn and Vienna.

“I was buoyed by Biden winning and by the phrase that America is back but clearly this means little in a situation which is arguably more important geopolitically that Russia or China given where Afghanistan sits.

“I have to say I am very disappointed by this false narrative of ‘forever wars’ spun by two US presidents to win votes. I feel demoralised and dismayed by what America has done.”

The MP knows Biden well, the two did work together on veterans’ mental health in both the US and UK.

Mr Ellwood points out that both countries have large numbers of troops based around the world where they offer stability, reassurance, local training capability and critically, deterrence.

He says Afghanistan will now be a fight between the regional powers, primarily India, Pakistan, Russia and China.

“Britain could easily have stayed there with other NATO powers without the United States but that would have required coordination and an orderly handover but that’s not what happened.

“And let’s face it, the Americans will still be there in the shape in the CIA, Special Forces and drone oversight because they are haunted by the prospect of another 9/11 from there.

“As soon as it became clear the US was pulling out without a replacement force, the Afghan army realised it did not have the top cover to stop Taliban."

“There had been great progress in Afghanistan. Ninety percent of the population have mobile phones, there are bustling cities with shopping malls, steak houses, coffee shops, entrepreneurs. These are the people who are going to flee and there will be a brain drain."

He said Russia and China would enjoy seeing the West demoralised and divided, Russia particularly because it got its fingers burned there in the 80s.

China could be poised to ‘gobble up’ the rich mineral resources in Afghanistan on its own terms as it has done in Africa. China will give money to the Taliban.

The MP predicted opposition to the Taliban would swell, a civil war could unfold and being a militia movement was very different to being in power.

He added: "We have a lot of soul searching to do about we our ability to intervene in future. NATO has been very damaged by this and we have been defeated by people who simply had the patience to hang on in there."

Mr Ellwood who has visited Afghanistan a dozen times said schoolboy errors had been made in the governance of the country and in the West not completing civilians projects that would have made the lives of ordinary people better, such as extending electricity supplies, irrigation and road building.

"Whenever I visited I was always concerned not enough was being done leverage the superb work being done by our armed forces."

There was a quick flash of anger over one Conservative commentator's assertion at the weekend that the ex-military MPs were not 'team players.'

"Well, is this team you want me to support doing such a great job that I am going to, in a North Korea way, clap my hands and say what a grand job? There were many voices in the Commons last week who were not impressed with what our government has done."

Mr Ellwood, 55, has a higher profile than most cabinet ministers. He has served as minister of state at the Foreign Office and at Defence before being sacked by Boris Johnson in 2019.

He is widely tipped as a future leadership contender, talk he dismisses.

"I have always wanted to be in government and part of decision making. In both departments it has been an amazing experience but it has also been deeply frustrating to see risk averse Britain has slowly become.

"Oddly enough I have had more traction as chair of the Defence Select Committee in nudging government and saying, we can do better than this.

"Global Britain has to mean something. It can't just be talk."