Facing increased risk of further attacks at the Kabul airport after the suicide bombing killed 13 US soldiers, among others, on Thursday, UK Defence Minister informed Friday that Britain will not accept any more people for flights out of the country, Reuters reports.
UK has already shut its processing centre and initiated final stages of its evacuation from Afghanistan, agreeing to accept only the last 1,000 people already inside the airport scheduled to fly out on Friday
Wallace said the evacuation efforts would now focus on getting out around 100 to 150 British citizens that are still in the country and people already cleared to leave.
They’ll leave behind British nationals that are willingly staying in Afghanistan along with around 800 to 1,100 Afghans eligible to leave the country due to their work for Britain but unable to make it through.
The newest development comes after British PM Boris Johnson previously said the government would continue evacuation efforts to bring to safety British nationals and Afghans deemed vulnerable.
Since the UK military’s evacuation mission began on August 13 To date, more than 13,146 people – embassy personnel and British nationals as well as current and former locally employed Afghanis eligible under the Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy (Arap) programme – have been airlifted to safety.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab have discussed joint counterterrorism efforts following the deadly attacks in Kabul as well as the international engagement on the future of Afghanistan, agreeing on its importance.
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