Calls to a veterans' charity have doubled since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, as ex-service personnel seek mental health support. Combat Stress, which normally receives about 30 calls a day, has seen that number more than double to 70.
On Wednesday, Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat said many veterans are struggling “through anger, grief and rage”. Health Secretary Sajid Javid has said he is “urgently” looking at more support for Afghanistan veterans.
Interim chief executive of Combat Stress, Jeff Harrison, told the BBC the charity is “very concerned”. “Every time you turn on the television and every time you pick up a newspaper, Afghanistan is what you see, for those veterans, it's just restarting those memories for them again, so that causes a problem.”
Mr Harrison said many veterans are dealing with “moral injury”. “While they were there, they knew they were doing something that was really worthwhile… And they look now at what's happening, about people just pulling out effectively overnight, and they just wonder what it was all for, was it just a futile effort.”
Conservative MP Jonny Mercer, a former soldier who served in Afghanistan, said the government must “step up and support this group of bereaved families and veterans”. “We will see a bow wave of mental health challenges. We are not trained to cope with the feelings that we have now.”
About 75% of Combat Stress's funding comes from charitable donations. Mr Harrison said: “If our funding increases we can see more veterans, it just really is as simple as that.”
