UK concludes ‘harrowing’ evacuation of civilians in Kabul

The British Army concludes this Saturday its operation to evacuate civilians from Kabul in its “hardest phase” due to the “anguish” of not being able to remove around a thousand of afghans linked to the United Kingdom whose lives are in danger under the Taliban regime.

The person in charge of the British Ministry of Defense, Nick Carter, confirmed that the mission in Afghanistan is expected to close during this day, already in its last hours, and indicated that “very few” evacuation flights of citizens are pending.

“We are reaching the end of the evacuation, which will take place during the day today and then, of course, it will be necessary to remove our troops,” he confirmed to the BBC.

The United Kingdom troops operating in the area are not out of danger yet, according to this general, because in these final sections “many things can go wrong”.

Among them, the possibility of possible incidents of “public disorder” is being considered due to the desperation of the civilian population to leave the country together with the very present “threat of terrorism” after the recent suicide attack.

“Troops operating on the ground have to be constantly alert and constantly thinking about how to deal with the threat,” he recalled.

Carter confessed that not a single day goes by without him thinking about all those Afghans who will be hopelessly trapped: “I think we have done an extraordinary job to evacuate as many people as possible but I am afraid it is absolutely distressing not being able to get everyone out”.

The pain marks this final stretch for the British Armed Forces, who do not stop receiving messages of aid from Afghan nationals strongly related to the United Kingdom, who desperately ask for help to get out, terrified by what the future holds at the hands of the Taliban.

MORE THAN 14,000 EVACUATED SINCE THE START OF THE MISSION

The head of Defense of the opposition Labor Party, John Healey, told Sky News today that “the brutal truth is that despite removing more than 14,000 people, probably another 1,000 Afghans who have worked with the United Kingdom for some two decades, who have assisted British troops, humanitarian aides, diplomats, and those they promised to protect, will be left behind”.

For his part, the chairman of the so-called British Committee for Foreign Affairs, Tom Tugendhat, today advised those who are still trying to access Kabul airport to “absolutely forget” about that option as it is too dangerous given the amount of controls that are being carried out. they would find on the way.

“That they absolutely forget about trying to access the airport because each of these controls poses a danger where the Taliban or affiliated groups, drug traffickers or criminals could kill and have undoubtedly already murdered several people,” he said in statements to the BBC.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson yesterday promised to “remove heaven and earth” so that those who wish to leave that country can do so beyond the 31st, the deadline set by the United States.

Since the start of the mission on August 13, some 14,543 people – Afghans and British nationals – have been taken out of Kabul by UK troops, including approximately 8,000 locals and relatives who were eligible for evacuation.

In addition to criticism from different sectors in the United Kingdom regarding the inability of the Government to assist at this critical time the thousand Afghans who collaborated with this country, a recent information published by The Times, which left the government in a bad place, still causes astonishment to the foreign office staff in Kabul.

As revealed by that newspaper last Tuesday, employees of the British legation were left at the facilities of the United Kingdom embassy in the Afghan capital, in the rush to flee from the Taliban, compromising documents with the data of Afghan collaborators and the resumes of citizens. of the country applying for employment in that legation.

Those confidential papers identifying seven Afghans were found by a journalist from the aforementioned newspaper while militants of the Taliban regime patrolled the vicinity of the building.