Rutland MP Alicia Kearns has branded the West's withdrawal from Afghanistan as "wholly preventable" and has warned Britain must rely less on the US and the world must be increasingly wary of China.

The MP, who is an expert on global security issues, told the House of Commons yesterday in a debate on the issue that "I and many colleagues around me are so very, very angry."

The UK government, she continued, called for NATO allies to build a new coalition to prevent the Taliban from capturing the country, but was let down as only Turkey was supportive as they know what a failed state looks like, with the influx of refugees and terrorism it causes.

Mrs Kearns said she had spoken to veterans in Rutland, who advised government to "get the people out." She said also been working with the MOD and local councils on this to help those interpreters and others who helped the allies.

The MP continued: "I welcome the Prime Minister's G7-led multilateral refugee programme. We have to get non-combatant evacuations proceeding at pace, but we are operating only with the consent of the Taliban—most certainly at the airport—and that can be withdrawn at any time, so my primary concern is those safe routes to the airport. The air bridge must be operational at all times and we must negotiate departures, and not just from Kabul. Land convoys must be considered humanitarian corridors."

Mrs Kearns praised the kindness of the British people for welcoming refugees and called on the UK government to "consider creating an initiative that allows British nationals to open their homes, their spare bedrooms and their second homes to those Afghans, similar to the private sponsorship route that already exists, because the British people want to step up and help."

Furthermore, the MP said the UK government and the international community must accept the withdrawal shows a change in US posture and the UK "may no longer hold the same sway in Washington under this presidency."

She explained: "That means that we must take greater responsibility for our defence around the world. Global Britain means that we must act autonomously, but through multilaterals on the world stage with other partners, and we must convince our NATO allies that we can all stand together without the Americans.

"Yes, they bring the kit; yes, they bring the money; yes, they bring the numbers, but this is something that we can and must do. We must shift from the model of being over-reliant on the US."

The MP also said: "Thirdly, we must fix our broken international system because it is not saving lives. The UN has failed to enable a political solution. There is no meaningful method or tactics to prevent the worst excesses of the Taliban, and the system is being undermined by money flooding fragile states.

"There are hostile states sitting on the human rights and women's councils of all the organisations of the multilateral world. It is the UK's duty to fix the international system, because we can do it."

Mrs Kearns also noted China securing influence against Pakistan and practicing "plunder diplomacy" as it strips countries of their minerals, and is already using the situation to threaten Taiwan. The world must also stand against a gravitational shift towards a powerful and dominating China.

The MP also warned against the softer language from the Taliban, saying they still seek revenge against opponents, and this softer language is simply to prevent UN sanctions and to keep the aid money coming in.

She continued: "The human cost of this withdrawal is monumental, but the strategic consequences risk being so much greater if we do not learn the lessons of the past few decades. We must properly focus on atrocity prevention.

"The new conflict centre, which I fought for, must lead our way in deciding how we become more strategic. We cannot be everywhere in this world and we cannot rescue every mission, but we can work on two core principles."

"The first is to protect our nation, our people and our prosperity. We must be single-minded in our focus on that and incredibly strategic.

"The second is that we must live up to our promises so that we can look in the eye those to whom we and our veterans have made promises, and stand squarely behind them. We cannot go wrong if that guides our foreign policy."

After thanking defence officials working on the Afghan issue, the MP added: "We speak today in a changed world. I have no doubt that we will open our hearts to the people of Afghanistan.

"Together, we in this House must mourn those who are left behind and those who will not make it.

"Our singular purpose must be atrocity prevention in the future. We must recognise where the threats to this country lie and ensure that we are single-minded in our focus on challenging them and protecting our people.

"We must ensure that, in a world that has become darker and more uncertain this week, at least we know the light that we will follow."