A British Youtuber is among the three British nationals who have been detained by the Taliban’s secret police since the beginning of the year. That became known last weekend. According to the British Telegraph, the Foreign Ministry is currently working on establishing contact with the three Britons.
Miles Routledge publishes videos on social media about his travels to various dangerous places, such as the Ukrainian frontline or a forbidden snake island in Brazil, under the name “Lord Miles”. The Briton describes himself as a “danger tourist”, in the description of his Twitter account it says: “I go to the most dangerous places in the world for fun!” He currently has around 61,000 subscribers on YouTube and over 150,000 on Twitter.
When the Taliban violently seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021, he became known to many because he made a special trip to the country. With the British Army, he was finally able to flee the country by plane during the evacuation campaign at the time. Many Afghans stayed behind at the time because there was not enough space on the planes. At the end of February this year, however, he will be traveling back to the country. While the other two Britons have been held by the Taliban since January, they are said to have arrested Routledge in early March.
His at least provocative way of reporting from and about war or dangerous areas was criticized by many as too careless. In one of the videos he released months ago from Afghanistan, Routledge showed himself at target practice with Taliban men. He is also said to have compared the situation in Afghanistan with the New York borough of Brooklyn. He also posted statements relating to the war on Twitter, such as “When I came back from Ukraine, I noticed that both sides are bad.” , or: “I don’t care what my English literature teacher said, war is cool and funny sometimes.” He also wrote a book about his experiences in Afghanistan, which was published by Antelope Hill Verlag – a US publisher known for also publishing nationalist and fascist literature.
In one of his videos he also met with the scandal influencer Andrew Tate, who was shortly afterwards taken into custody on allegations of sexual exploitation of women. Routledge shared with him his run-in with the Taliban. Among other things, he told him that the Taliban knew and loved Tate.
Sources: Telegraph, Vice, Twitter
