There have not been many humorous angles to the Taliban’s victory over the United States Army and NATO in Afghanistan this week.
One story that has given many people a laugh however has been that of Miles Routledge, the English Catholic adventurer who casually took a dark tourist trip to the country, only for the Taliban to take over while he was there. What started off as a bit of fun, ended up with Routledge being airlifted on a cramped military plane out of the country in the middle of the night.
Miles began his public journey with posts on 4chan, Facebook and Twitch. He wrote:
Decided to pop down to Afghanistan for a few days, never been before. Just goofing off and soaking in the sun. Seems more peaceful than London to me.
Some commenters disbelieved his story, yet he posted photographs and time stamps to prove that his story was true.
He then posted a screenshot of his credit card, which held the title ‘Lord Routledge’, evidently because he had convinced the bank of his titular importance. He joked (we assume) that this would help him in convincing the Taliban not to kill him.
He also posted pictures of himself beside guns on the streets of Kabul.
As his story spread and things in Kabul deteriorated, Miles posted photos of himself brandishing a cross and confirmed that he was a Catholic. As violence spread, he stated that he was beginning to grow anxious and was struggling to keep water down. He stated that he was praying every 20 minutes as his situation began to look less like fun and more like a threat to his life.
He stated ‘I’ve seen too many dead people. I’ve just wanted this whole thing to be a little charity thing where I can explore a weird country but I’ve mentally broke down’.
He also wrote:
''I was fully prepared for death, I accepted it. This trip has been a test of God. I'm very religious so I believe I'll be looked after. If I die, I’ll die happy and religious and proud.''
Last night, he was among those on a large RAF military plane who were evacuated to Dubai from Kabul.
