One thing you can be certain of is that, no matter their protestations, nobody, but NOBODY, at government or diplomatic service levels, is ‘astonished’ or even ‘mildly surprised’ that the Taliban came back toute de suite. The second it was announced that Trump’s poodle, Pompeo, had signed the agreement with the Taliban for US troops to withdraw by April 2021, Mrs Backwoodsperson and I looked at each other and said, “Here come the Taliban!”.

If Proles like us suspected it was going to happen, and quickly, you can damn well bet your boots on it that those in control knew for sure.

Time will reveal what the real plan has been all along.