Marking 25 years since the 9/11 attacks, British veterans of the Afghanistan war have said their friends died in vain, describing their service as a "pointless waste of time" after the Taliban swiftly retook the country. Al-Qaeda's attacks on New York killed around 3,000 people and triggered a two-decade Western military campaign in Afghanistan, yet it took the Taliban just ten days to seize power once Nato withdrew in August 2021, reimposing a regime that bars women and girls from education, suppresses the press and denies fair trials. Veterans say the collapse has left them questioning whether the sacrifices made were worthwhile, with many now living with life-changing injuries, PTSD or homelessness.

By the war's end, 457 British soldiers had been killed and around 2,000 wounded fighting the Taliban. Former Royal Marine Ben McBean, now 39, lost his right leg and left arm in an IED blast in Kajaki in 2008, also losing two friends on tour and being left with PTSD; he told the Daily Mail the war achieved "nothing" since Afghan girls who once attended school under Western oversight can no longer do so. Gemma Gardner, 45, who served with the Adjutant General's Corps in Lashkar Gah in 2009, recalled seeing badly wounded troops rushed past her on stretchers after IED strikes, saying she still feels "hurt and pain" over the conflict.