That's where we'll leave our coverage of the select committee's questioning of Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, about the Foreign Office response to the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban, and the subsequent evacuation of people from the capital Kabul.

Parliament returns next week, when, no doubt, plenty of questions will resurface, and more MPs will get the chance to question the foreign secretary and other ministers.

We'll be covering that and more on the BBC website.

Labour's shadow foreign secretary Lisa Nandy criticises the foreign secretary's answers at the select committee session earlier.

She says "most damningly of all", having had months to prepare for the evacuation, while some countries such as France had managed to get people out, the department was the "weakest link in the chain" in getting people safely out of Afghanistan.

Committee chair Tom Tugendhat produced evidence from within the department that the Taliban advance was progressing, she says, and she criticises Dominic Raab for going on holiday when he did in the light of that intelligence report.

And she calls for clarity from the government about who from Afghanistan is eligible to come to the UK, enabling them to cross borders intoto other countries.

BBC Radio 5 Live

Tom Tugendhat said he was surprised by some of the foreign secretary's answers.

He suggested Dominic Raab should have been more active in the region before the Taliban takeover and questioned whether he knew about a risk report that suggested there was a very real danger of Afghan cities collapsing.

Mr Raab told MPs the UK's central assessment was that Kabul was unlikely to fall this year - although it was making contingency plans.

Speaking on Radio 5 Live after the hearing, Mr Tugendhat said he didn't think it unreasonable for the foreign secretary to be active in the region or to reach out to ambassadors directly..

He said the report that suggested rapid Taliban advances had been produced by the Foreign Office's audit and risk committee.

He said: "I don’t think the questions that I asked were unreasonable” and he was “a bit surprised he wasn’t aware of it”.

The government is not confident that it knows how many people eligible to come to the UK remain in Afghanistan, Dominic Raab says.

Around 15,000 have been evacuated since the country fell to the Taliban.

Addressing MPs, the foreign secretary said he would be leaving for the region later for talks on those left behind.

He also admitted that the UK was "caught out" by the speed of the fall of Kabul, with intelligence expecting it to hold until the end of the year.

Read more here.

Image source, EPA

Well, not a lot more than we did before.

Dominic Raab was repeatedly questioned over how many UK citizens have been left behind in Afghanistan, as well as Afghans who helped British forces and vulnerable people.

He put this number in the “low hundreds” – but said the government didn’t know precisely because of difficulties with documentation and proving nationality.

The foreign secretary said the UK had evacuated a number of people at risk, including 287 journalists, 65 women's rights activists and nine judges.

He added that “any number that we haven’t got out” is “too many”.

Dominic Raab bristled as he faced questions from MPspublished at 16:18 British Summer Time 1 September 2021

16:18 BST 1 September 2021

Ione Wells
Westminster Correspondent, BBC News

The foreign secretary appeared visibly bristled by some of the questions thrown at him by MPs.

MPs were frustrated by a lack of detail from Dominic Raab on key questions like the specific number of people eligible for evacuation who had been left behind.

Mr Raab appeared equally irritated by questions on when exactly he went on holiday - refusing to provide any precise dates.

He had a heated exchange too with Labour's Neil Coyle, who accused him of refusing to answer questions as they proceeded to speak over one another.

The MPs are unlikely to leave the session satisfied with the answers they got, with Tom Tugendhat wrapping up by accusing Mr Raab of firefighting.

Certainly, as Parliament returns next week, questions for Mr Raab on key issues like how many people are left behind, how the government plans to get them out, and why ministers were taken by surprise by the speed of the Taliban's takeover will not go away until concrete answers are provided.

Here are the key points from Dominic Raab's appearance before MPs:

• The foreign secretary says he will be "leaving to go to the region" after his appearance before the committee but provides no more details of where exactly he will visit
• He says the central intelligence assessment in the run up to Nato troops pulling out was that there would be a "steady deterioration" in the security situation in August, but it was "unlikely Kabul would fall this year"
• He admits ministers are "not confident with any precision at all" about the number of British citizens left behind in Afghanistan but estimates it is in the "hundreds, possibly the mid to low hundreds"
• He says ministers have "huge compassion" for the plight of people in Afghanistan but it would be "wrong to just open the door" for people to come to the UK
• Afghan guards who were based at the British embassy in Kabul did not make it out of the country because buses transporting them "were not given permission to enter the airport"
• Asked whether a portrait of the Queen was left behind in the embassy in Kabul, he says orders were given for everything to be destroyed
• He did not consider offering to resign because his focus was "getting on with the job" and "helping to get people out".

As he brings today's committee session to a close after just under two hours, Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat asks Mr Raab to come back to the committee very soon to update them on the situation.

He says in his opinion, the withdrawal from Afghanistan has been the "single biggest foreign policy disaster" the UK has faced since the Suez crisis in the 1950s.

He adds that it has "exposed a weakness" in the UK's relationship with Western allies.

Mr Raab says he "struggles" with the comparison with Suez, but he knows the committee will want to understand more about the lessons to be learned from Afghanistan.

Dominic Raab says he will investigate allegations that UK officials instructed Afghans to go to the Abbey Gate entrance to Kabul airport hours before Thursday's suicide bombing there.

Emails seen by Newsnight show that even though the UK and US deemed a threat to the airport to be imminent, the British embassy told people to "use the Abbey Gate [near] to the Baron Hotel".

Questioned by Labour's Chris Bryant, Mr Raab says: "I saw that report, I need to investigate it."

Mr Bryant, who is himself a former Foreign Office minister, suggests Mr Raab would have been better advised during recent events to "pick up the phone to the person on the ground".

Mr Raab says he challenges official advice. "The caricature of critique against me is that I'm either lazy and delegating too much or a control freak.

"The truth is you need to exercise grip but you also need to be able to delegate. If you don't do that you'll never take decisions. and you'll also never engage with the international interlocutors who we need to influence."

The UK foreign secretary has again been questioned about the timing of his holiday to Crete during the Afghanistan crisis.

Speaking to MPs at the Foreign Affairs Committee, Dominic Raab said he would not get into a "fishing expedition" over the trip.

MPs are pressing Dominic Raab on what happens next in Afghanistan - here's the latest:

• The UK wants to get humanitarian aid to those who need it most and there are questions about what support can be given in neighbouring countries, he says
• The UK does need to "talk seriously with the Taliban" Raab says, as it is "one of the early tests" whether they will allow humanitarian organisations to do their jobs
• The Taliban need to be judged by their ability to behave "in a reasonable and constructive way", he says
• Britain can't deal with the refugee crisis alone Mr Raab argues - it should "lead by example" but the key regional players, western countries and Gulf nations need to get involved to exercise an influence on the Taliban
• Raab says the UK will not recognise the Taliban but will test and judge them by how they respond, and will work very closely with the US.

Independent MP Claudia Webbe suggests Mr Raab should resign.

"Are you the person to take us forward - will you now consider your position?" she asks.

Mr Raab says he understands why she wants to focus on the politics but accepts there are lessons to learn about how the UK and others were caught out by the pace of the Taliban advance.

Image source, Afghan Islamic Press

The Taliban took many by surprise as they swept across Afghanistan in just 10 days, quickly taking control of towns and cities.

It is not yet known who will take charge of the new government. But what do we know about who is leading the Taliban today?

Afghanistan: Who's who in the Taliban leadership

Dominic Raab is still answering questions - here's the latest:

• Asked if he even considered offering to resign, Raab says his focus was "getting on with the job" and "helping to get people out"
• He says he has appeared before the committee "readily" because he takes "the scrutiny very seriously"
• But there has been a "breezing over" of some of the operational challenges that were faced on the ground
• He says the reality is that staff have pulled together a "quite remarkable" evacuation of thousands of people
• He is asked about the Foreign Office rota and says there was a three shift, 24/7 operation to keep across what was happening on the ground
• He says the priority was the security of Kabul airport.

The SNP's Stewart Malcolm McDonald fires a series of questions at the foreign secretary about when he spoke to foreign ministers and British ambassadors as the crisis worsened.

Mr Raab says he has a list of calls, but does not give a run-down of whom he called when.

The SNP MP returns to the subject of Mr Raab's holiday, again asking him when he went on holiday.

Mr Raab again says he has made a "full statement" on this subject and accuses Mr McDonald of a "partisan attack" in his line of questioning.

Mr McDonald calls his refusal to answer his question "absurd".

Dominic Raab has been answering questions for just over an hour - here are the latest developments:

• He praises the efforts of the British Ambassador to Afghanistan, Laurie Bristow, saying there was "no-one more courageous" other than troops on the ground
• Afghan guards who were based at the British embassy in Kabul did not make it out of the country because buses transporting them "were not given permission to enter the airport"
• Raab says he has asked for a "full review of what happened" so lessons can be learned
• Asked whether a portrait of the Queen was left behind in the embassy in Kabul, he says orders were given for everything to be destroyed.

The deputy head of the Taliban’s political office in Qatar has given an interview to BBC Pashto.

Sher Abbas Stanekzai said a Taliban government could be announced in the next two days and would be inclusive - with a role for women at lower levels but not in very high positions.

He also said those who served in government in the past two decades would not be included.

Conservative MP Alicia Kearns asks about the circumstances under which the UK would recognise the Taliban government.

The foreign secretary says it is important not to confer "legitimacy" on the Taliban, but it is important to send signals to the group.

On its relationship with al-Qaeda, Mr Raab says the Taliban has pledged not to assist terror networks.

But he adds these are "early days," and it is important to set "credible and realistic tests" for the group.

Dominic Raab clashes with Labour MP Neil Coyle over the issue of the numbers of people left behind in Kabul.

Mr Coyle says the evacuation of some UK embassy guards was held up by paperwork.

Dominic Raab says buses weren't given permission to enter the airport - a reflection of conditions on the ground.

Mr Coyle accuses him of failing to answer the question and they talk over each other.

"You can browbeat me all you like...." says Mr Raab.

Mr Coyle interrupts to tell him: "You're not answering the question so let's move on."

He is asked about the personal details of UK-linked Afghans which were found by a Times journalist in the British embassy in Kabul.

Mr Raab says three families were evacuated within 24 hours and were now in the UK.

Asked if he owes them an apology, he says the UK owes them every effort to get those out that we did.

Tory MP Alicia Kearns has a further question - she wants to know how many staff the Foreign Office had on the ground helping people leave.

Dominic Raab tells her the numbers "peaked at 20" but there were another 13 Border Force Staff.

"The principal issue has been the issue of stability and security around the airport," he adds.

Ms Kearns, who's a former member of the rapid deployment team at the Foreign Office, is concerned it was not deployed early enough.

Dominic Raab says deployment decisions were based on a military assessment of risk.

"It wasn't safe, it wasn't secure," he adds.