Afghanistan: Welsh diplomat's harrowing week helping Afghans flee

Rhys Annett holding a baby whose mother and twin he helped leave Afghanistan

A Welsh diplomat who helped Afghans evacuate their home country after the Taliban gained power says it was the hardest but most worthwhile thing he has ever done.

Rhys Annett described cradling a tiny baby whose mother was escaping the country after her husband was killed.

The 29-year-old from Powys was part of the UK's Rapid Deployment Team in Afghanistan for a "harrowing" week.

He narrowly avoided dying in an explosion which killed 170 people.

Mr Annett, from Brecon, works at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office as a desk officer.

He said of his time in the country: "It was a harrowing experience because you were dealing face-to-face with families in the most desperate situation.

"Probably the most vivid memory I have is a woman who had baby twins, aged about seven or eight months old. Their dad had been killed by the Taliban.

"She could not carry the twins by herself so was basically passing one of them along the very long queue and it eventually came to me. I held the baby while I was trying to process her departure."

A credible bomb threat saw Rhys moved from his work base two hours before a blast went off nearby

British personnel were involved in evacuating UK nationals and Afghans from the country for two weeks up to 28 August.

About 15,000 people including 2,200 children were flown to the UK.

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"We were working 16 or 17-hour days. You don't sleep much, as you are just running on adrenaline," Mr Annett said.

"I've worked on a few crises before, but this was probably the hardest thing I've ever done - but also the most worthwhile.

"I would say probably more than half the families that I saw, at least one family member had been killed, either by the Taliban or by other violence.

"The most moving moments were when you would help young girls get out because their life in Afghanistan, if they had to stay, would be extremely difficult."

Staff were working up to 17 hours per day, Rhys Annett said

He and colleagues working at the Baron Hotel in Kabul missed being caught up in a suicide bomb attack near the airport on 26 August by just two hours.

"We were moved out of our location because we'd received intelligence about the increased bomb threat and a few hours later that massive bomb did go off," he said.

"The bomb was on the route that we had taken out so that was a bit chilling."