NORTH Shropshire MP Owen Paterson has called American president Joe Biden's handling of the Afghan crisis, which has led to the Taliban retaking the country, 'shameful'.

Mr Paterson attacked made the comments in the House of Commons after parliament was recalled on Wednesday, marking his own first time in the chamber since his wife Rose's death in 2020.

He described it as ‘no great pleasure’ to be speaking at the time of what he called the UK’s 'biggest humiliation since Suez', and the United States’ 'biggest humiliation since Saigon'.

Mr Paterson criticised the decision of President Biden to withdraw all troops and military support from Afghanistan, following a peace agreement signed by his predecessor Donald Trump.

He said: “The Afghan army has fought incredibly bravely – 70,000 of them have died, supported by us and very much the Americans, technically from the air.

“President Biden drew a completely false choice. It was not between total immersion of American forces and loss of American lives or pulling out.

“He could’ve carried on with 4,500 American troops and sophisticated air support. That sends a message to every Afghan army unit that if they are in real trouble, they could call up American support.

“When it was announced they were going, it sent a real message to the Taliban saying ‘you’re safe boys, take every village, take every town, because the American Air Force is not coming after you’.

“So it is frankly shameful that he cannot face questions from his own hostile Press Corp, and attack the Afghan army for cowardice.”

Mr Paterson went on to describe the current situation as a mess, adding: “We’ve got China, Russia, Iran – hostile. What are we going to say to citizens in Taiwan, India, Pakistan and western Ukraine?

“They will be worried, and the UK has a real role – we now have to cope with a weak American president and the UK leading the G7 has to step up.”

The former Secretary of State for Northern Ireland also spoke about the impact the news from Afghanistan is having on armed forces veterans in the UK.

He said: “I have to pay tribute to our armed forces in the short time I have left.

“We should remember what these veterans did – they did bring women’s rights. A concrete building in southern Afghanistan was turned from an ammunition dump into a children’s school.

“So we should remember them and the pressures they are under now – these images for these veterans will be shocking.

“Combat Stress have had a doubling of applications for help in the last few days. They already look after between 15,000 and 16,000 veterans.

“We can all help – the government can help through the NHS, and the Ministry of Defence. Every constituent can help Combat Stress now.

“These are our citizens and every time they look at the screen, the horrors of their experience in Afghanistan will come back.

“We owe it to those veterans to go out and look after them.”