STOP the War Coalition convener Lindsey German hit back today at claims by a retired general that withdrawing from Afghanistan was a “strategic mistake.”

General Sir Richard Barrons said pulling troops out 20 years after the US-led invasion of 2001 would send the message that Western leaders “don’t have the stomach to see these things through.”

The US attacked Afghanistan in 2001 and displaced the Taliban, but the Islamist group has fought back ever since and is now rapidly reconquering territory from the internationally recognised government.

Ms German told the Morning Star that Afghanistan was “a major defeat for Western imperialism.

“Those who opposed the war 20 years ago said then that it would fail. It would not bring peace and democracy, or women’s liberation. We were proved correct.

“The military and governments have known for years that they could not succeed but continued with this bloody war to save face. Now that pretence is over the people suffering are ordinary Afghans.

“If only the money spent on war had been spent on infrastructure, raising levels of health and security and eliminating poverty.”