Afghanistan: UK's Kabul evacuation going at 'significant pace'
- Published
The UK's operation to evacuate people from Afghanistan ahead of the 31 August deadline is moving at "significant pace", the government has said.
Some 1,200 people had been evacuated by the UK in the last 12 hours, as of 18:00 BST on Wednesday, it added.
The UK is rushing to evacuate British nationals, as well as Afghans who worked for the UK and other vulnerable individuals, out of Kabul airport.
A 31 August deadline is in place for foreign troops to leave the country.
US President Joe Biden rejected calls from PM Boris Johnson and other allies to delay his withdrawal date for the remaining American troops past August.
The airport is currently being defended and run by the US, which has 5,800 troops on the ground.
About 2,000 people eligible for the the UK government's relocation programme - Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) - remain in Afghanistan, but the plan is to evacuate more in the coming days, the BBC was told earlier.
And the Pentagon said 10,000 people were still waiting to be evacuated by US aircraft. More than 82,000 people have been airlifted out of Kabul airport since the Taliban takeover, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken added.
Earlier, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said British troops would withdraw from Afghanistan by the end of the month but would not give an exact date when the last UK flight would leave Kabul.
He said the UK wanted to keep using "every hour and day that we've got left" to fly British nationals and eligible Afghans out of the country.
Mr Raab was also pressed on whether the deadline for troops to leave Afghanistan was midnight on 30 or 31 August, after a White House press secretary was unable to confirm the exact timeframe.
In response, he said: "I think it's going right the way up to the end of the calendar month", adding that there would be "further details in due course".
'I'm feeling like I have five more days of my life'
One translator, who worked with British forces in Helmand Province, said he was trapped at Kabul airport with his wife and four-month-old daughter, who is becoming ill, unable to get a visa to leave the country.
The man - who the BBC is not naming for his own safety - said he had sent more than 100 emails to the British embassy but had not received a single reply.
He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme he feared for his life and the thought of evacuation flights ending in days was making him desperate.
"I'm feeling like I have five more days of my life," he said.
"Nobody cares about me. I really need them to help me, at least to help my little daughter, my wife. I've put their lives in danger now and they are facing every problem because of me."
More than 1,000 UK troops are on the ground in Kabul helping to process British nationals and eligible Afghans at the airport, where there have been chaotic scenes since the Taliban's swift takeover of the country.
The UK and other allies had urged the US to stay in Afghanistan beyond 31 August to allow more time for evacuation flights.
The Taliban have opposed any extension of the deadline and the US president said the airlift had to come to an end soon because of the growing risk of an attack by the Islamic State group in Afghanistan.
- Published25 August 2021
- Published24 August 2021
