UK intelligence did not expect Afghan capital to fall this year - Raab

Britain's Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab walks outside the FCDO in London, Britain, September 1, 2021. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls

LONDON (Reuters) -Britain's intelligence assessment was that it was unlikely Kabul would fall this year, foreign minister Dominic Raab said as he defended Britain's withdrawal from Afghanistan after the Taliban swept across the country much more quickly than expected.

Britain, like the United States, failed to predict how swiftly the Afghan government would fall, so it had not made sufficient preparation for the chaos that would follow when the Taliban seized the capital on Aug. 15.