The defence secretary says poverty and terrorism are likely to increase as the UK and US withdraw.
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Afghanistan is “heading towards civil war” as the UK prepares to withdraw its citizens, allies and troops, the defence secretary has said.
Ben Wallace told BBC Breakfast that it was likely that poverty and terrorism would increase in the country.
But he said the UK would have the right to intervene if terror plots against it were planned from Afghanistan.
Mr Wallace blamed former US President Donald Trump’s “rotten deal” with the Taliban in 2020 for the withdrawal.
The defence secretary said around 600 troops were being sent to Afghanistan to ensure the safe return of about 500 Foreign Office and other UK government officials, along with around 3,000 British citizens working in other roles, such as security guards for aid agencies.
He said about 2,000 Afghan interpreters and “other people we have an obligation to” would also be transported to the UK, joining about 3,000 who have already been taken out of the country.
With the withdrawal facing criticism from former military figures and Tory backbenchers, Mr Wallace rejected the suggestion that the UK’s 20 years in the region had been a failure.
He pointed to the three million women and girls who had received an education during the time the Taliban had been forced out of power. “You can’t take away from people that education,” he said.
But he said he had “concerns” about reports by BBC journalists in Afghanistan of “pretty horrendous things on the ground”, as tens of thousands of people have had to flee their homes and the Taliban is beginning to reassert its hardline rule over its captured cities.
“I think we are heading towards a civil war,” he said, adding that as states fail, both poverty and terrorism grows.
But he said that the UK could act if Afghanistan again began to harbour terrorists who presented an international threat – as it did when it offered a safe haven to Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda group, responsible for the September 11 attacks which killed thousands in New York.
“UK forces retain the capability to defend its citizens” if nations do not take action against terrorists in their midst, he said.
“Under international law we have the right to defend our country against imminent threats.”