Investigation in Britain over the suicides among Afghan veterans

Britain is investigating whether or not some veterans from the Afghan war have taken their own lives because they are so devastated by the chaotic withdrawal of US-led forces from the country, a British junior defense minister said on Monday.

Iran press/ Asia: The humiliation of the lightning Taliban takeover in Afghanistan after a 20-year war that cost hundreds of thousands of lives and at least a trillion dollars has dismayed veterans of the war.

Britain lost 457 armed forces personnel in Afghanistan or 13 percent of the international military coalition's 3,500 fatalities since 2001.

James Heappey, a junior defense minister, initially told Sky News that some soldiers had taken their own lives in the past week "because of the feelings they have had over what's happening in Afghanistan."

"We're looking very, very carefully at whether or not it is true that someone has taken their life in the last few days," he said.

Heappey, who reached the rank of major before entering politics, said he was hearing the Taliban was now in control of the whole of Afghanistan but that the situation in Panjshir did not change the big picture.

With the withdrawal of the last US troops from Afghanistan, the full security of the country is now under the control of Taliban forces.

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