Injured veteran Ben Parkinson queries Afghan sacrifice

Ben Parkinson, now 37, has received an MBE for his charity work

Injured Army veteran Ben Parkinson and his family say Taliban advances in Afghanistan have left people asking "what it was all for".

Mr Parkinson suffered horrific injuries when the Army Land Rover he was in hit a mine in 2006.

He is regarded as the most severely injured British soldier to survive the war there.

US support of Afghan forces is due to cease at the end of August, with the Taliban advancing rapidly.

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Army veteran and Barnsley MP Dan Jarvis also said families were questioning their sacrifice.

Mr Parkinson, a former paratrooper and lance bombardier, had both legs amputated and sustained 40 other injuries as a result of fighting in Afghanistan.

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He said he was very concerned for all Afghan people and urged the British government to allow all those who helped the British military to enter the UK.

The 37-year-old said interpreters had been refused permission to come to Britain.

Speaking at home in Doncaster, he said: "The Taliban are threatening their lives. They need to be taken to safety.

"They helped us so what's the point of leaving them to die now?"

Mr Parkinson's mother, Diane Dernie, said the people paying the price were the families of those killed and injured.

She said there seemed to be "not a single gain".

"You do ask the obvious question: what on earth was it all for?"

Dan Jarvis was a paratrooper and became a major before he left the Army

Mr Jarvis, also the mayor of Sheffield City Region and a former soldier, said British Afghanistan veterans were "angry, frustrated and heartbroken".

"We invested so much into that country; we all lost good friends we served alongside and we are left wondering whether it was worth it," he said.

"It doesn't feel like it was."

He said significant troop redeployment was not an option but suggested the US could extend air support to Afghan forces, and the UK, Nato and others should also be using diplomatic levers and talking to regional partners.