LONDON (Dispatches) -- 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 U.S.-led forces from the country Britain’s armed forces minister said on Monday.
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 foreign 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”.
But without further explanation, Heappey later rowed back from the comment, telling the BBC that his remark had been inaccurate.
“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 told BBC TV.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson was to address lawmakers on Monday about Britain’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, amid criticism of the handling of the evacuation and failure to predict how quickly the Taliban would sweep through the country.
Johnson’s foreign minister Dominic Raab has admitted that both countries misjudged the Taliban’s capacity to seize control. The Taliban took Kabul on Aug. 15.
Johnson has faced stinging criticism from lawmakers for intelligence and leadership failures over the fall of Kabul, and he has admitted that the decision by the United States to withdraw left Britain with little choice but to pull its own forces.
Some who served in Afghanistan have spoken of their anger and grief about what has happened.

Afghanistan Veteran Kills 4 in Florida

A self-described survivalist in body armor shot and killed four people, including a woman and her 3-month-old baby boy in her arms, before surrendering to police in central Florida on Sunday, officials said.
The shooter, identified as Bryan Riley, 33, a former U.S. Marine, also wounded an 11-year-old girl who underwent surgery for

seven gunshot injuries, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd told a news conference.
Riley, who had no connection to the victims, engaged in a shootout with police before giving up, and later tried to grab a police officer’s gun while being treated in the hospital for his own gunshot wound, before being subdued again, Judd said.
A veteran of the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Riley was working as a bodyguard and a security guard. His girlfriend of four years told investigators he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and occasional depression, Judd said.
About a week ago his mental health worsened and he told his girlfriend he had started speaking with God, Judd said.
“He said at one point to our detectives, ‘They begged for their lives and I killed them anyway’,” Judd said at a second news conference.
Riley also told sheriff’s deputies he was high on methamphetamine, Judd said.
The shooter first appeared randomly at the house where the shooting occurred on Saturday night, making nonsensical statements, but left by the time police responded.
He returned early Sunday morning, killing a 40-year-old man, the 33-year-old mother and her baby boy, Judd said. In the home next door, he also killed the 62-year-old mother of the woman, Judd said.
“In addition to that, if he’s not evil enough, he shot and killed the family dog,” Judd said.
Deputies responding to reports of two volleys of automatic gunfire arrived to find the suspect unarmed outside, wearing camouflage and body armor. Riley then went back inside and “we heard another volley, and a woman scream, and a baby whimper,” Judd said.
A gunfight ensued before he came out unarmed and was arrested.