Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has said it is “unlikely” the 31 August deadline to pull troops out of Afghanistan will be extended as it gets “more and more dangerous”. Speaking to Sky News, he said: “As we get closer it’s correct to say the security risk goes up, it gets more and more dangerous. “Add-on
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It’s calmer outside the camp. The people, thousands of them, know that the processing that might get them on a flight to the UK can’t happen if there is a return to the chaos of the past few days. In the morning sun, people call to us as we walk, pleading for a pair of
British evacuations out of Afghanistan could not have happened without the US – and an extension depends on G7 talks with Joe Biden tomorrow, the armed forces minister has told Sky News. James Heappey said the mission to fly out thousands of British nationals and Afghans who worked for the British over the past 20
It’s only a gate. A big, reinforced iron gate protected by paratroopers, but nevertheless it is just a gate. On one side a rocky drive leads to a complex of apartments and offices and tree-lined streets filled with evacuees. On the other side, it is a vision of misery. There is a dusty, rubbish strewn
Seven people in the crowds near Kabul airport died amid the chaos of those fleeing the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence has said. The MoD said in a statement on Sunday that “conditions on the ground remain extremely challenging but we are doing everything we can to manage the situation as safely
The Taliban’s triumphant march into Kabul seven days ago was the result of long-term planning and rank opportunism. For weeks, Western leaders had insisted it just wouldn’t happen; in one heated briefing with journalists, the Chief of the Defence Staff, General Sir Nicholas Carter, even attacked the media for being unpatriotic and claimed that NATO
The Taliban has begun to set out how it plans to run Afghanistan after its takeover, saying former government experts will be brought in and fighters will continue to demonstrate restraint. A Taliban official outlined on Saturday morning how separate teams will deal with internal security and the financial crisis that is set to impact
Every day the scene outside the British evacuation camp changes, every day it seems to get worse and this day there is a new sense of desperation. Collectively I think the thousands queuing outside in burning temperatures know that the clock is ticking on how long this airlift will go on for. Nobody is saying
Taliban fighters killed nine ethnic Hazara men after taking control of Afghanistan’s Ghazni province last month, Amnesty International has said. The killings, which took place between 4 and 6 July in the village of Mundarakht, Malistan district, saw six men shot and three others tortured to death. One man was strangled with his own scarf
The paras knew we wanted to get outside of the British evacuation camp where they’re protecting and processing thousands of people bound for the UK. “Do you really want to go outside?” a somewhat incredulous looking soldier said to me. “Obviously I’m not going to stop you, if you are sure.” We’d been outside already,
The Taliban have urged people to leave Kabul airport after 12 people were killed there since Sunday. They died in and around the airport either as a result of gunshots or a stampede, Taliban and NATO officials said. Hundreds are still trying to flee Afghanistan via the capital’s Hamid Karzai International Airport. But the Taliban
You can hear a noise as you approach the high iron gates that are the only way into the compound that is the centre of the British airlift operation out of Afghanistan. On either side of a narrow road, inside the walls of the compound in Kabul, exhausted British soldiers lie in the shade waiting
The collapse of Afghanistan’s government happened faster “than even the Taliban predicted”, the prime minister has told MPs, but he denied the UK had been caught “unawares”. Opening a recalled session of parliament to discuss the crisis in Afghanistan, Boris Johnson claimed it was “not true” to say the UK was “unprepared” for or “did
Afghanistan has now been “emancipated” and the Taliban seeks no revenge after regaining control of the country, the group has said in a news conference. A spokesman said “we want the world to trust us” and appealed to people not to interfere in the transfer of power. He said the group’s top priority was to
The Taliban has declared an “amnesty” across Afghanistan and urged women to join the government following a day of chaos that saw citizens descend on the airport en masse in a bid to flee their rule. Enamullah Samangani, a member of the Taliban’s cultural commission, said: “The Islamic Emirate doesn’t want women to be victims. “They
As soon as the Taliban made their move on Kabul, as soon as their fighters started to appear on the streets, it was clear those most scared of their arrival would try to escape. With the city completely surrounded, the airport was the only place to go. Even as we drove down the airport road