The past few weeks have seen the situation in Afghanistan turn into the biggest foreign policy disaster since Suez.

Many Afghans feel they have been abandoned by the British and the Americans for reasons which remain obscure – apart from, as I see it, Joe Biden’s wish to be the president who brought US forces home.

Like many MPs, I have spent weeks dealing with desperate people trying to get out of Afghanistan. I have been in touch with a number of British citizens still stuck there who will now head for other countries, mainly Pakistan, in the hope that it will prove the best route out.

Ilford Recorder: MP John Cryer feels that the government have been giving unclear messages during coronavirus pandemic.MP John Cryer feels that the government have been giving unclear messages during coronavirus pandemic. (Image: Archant)

A whistleblower recently told The Observer that thousands of emails from people like me – pleas on behalf of desperate constituents – have not even been read, never mind acted upon.

Every time there is a controversy on just about any issue under the sun, we see a queue of politicians and the media demanding an inquiry and a review.

I’m often slightly hesitant to call for such things as it can often sound glib and hackneyed. However, the present demands for an inquiry into the abandonment of Afghanistan do seem to make sense.

We really need to know who made which decisions and why.