Britain out of Afghanistan: last troops depart after 20 years
As evacuations finish, the Prime Minister promises to honour the sacrifices of those who fell
By Edward Malnick, SUNDAY POLITICAL EDITOR ; Nick Allen and Suddaf Chaudry IN KABUL |Telegraph
Britain’s 20-year military campaign in Afghanistan came to an end on Saturday night as Boris Johnson insisted the UK would do all it could to “preserve the gains” from the sacrifices of troops.
The final RAF flight withdrawing British troops left Kabul after the personnel on board assisted in the departure of the final civilians who had managed to get into the airport before its gates were shut.
On Saturday night, some of the last group of British soldiers boarded an A400M aircraft and left Kabul|CREDIT: MOD/Jonathan Gifford
Sir Laurie Bristow, Britain’s ambassador to Afghanistan, who had stayed to process visa applications from the airport, was on one of the last flights to leave. He will preside over a temporary embassy in Qatar, from where he will help to co-ordinate the UK’s efforts to aid the evacuation of as many as 1,000 Afghans eligible to be rescued by Britain who have been left behind.
Hundreds of Afghans have been forced to make a break for land borders as the airlift operation from Kabul has been wound down.
Writing in The Telegraph, Dominic Raab states that Britain will impose financial sanctions on the Taliban if they fail to grant remaining Afghans “safe passage” to flee the country. The UK plans to try to organise the transfer of the remaining British and Afghan citizens from neighbouring states.
Urging other countries such as China and Russia to “work together” with the West to “use all the levels at our disposal”, the Foreign Secretary states that the UK is “ready” to draw up sanctions at the UN and through Britain’s own regime.
Mr Raab says that the penalties will “depend on the choices that the Taliban make... including enabling safe passage out of the country”.
On Saturday, in a telephone call with German chancellor Angela Merkel, Downing Street said the Prime Minister “stressed that any recognition and engagement with the Taliban must be conditional on them allowing safe passage for those who want to leave the country and respecting human rights”.
The RAF flight withdrawing British troops left Kabul after the personnel on board assisted in the departure of the final civilians from Kabul|CREDIT: MOD/Jonathan Gifford
In other developments on Saturday:
Mr Johnson pledged that Britain would welcome Afghan refugees with “open arms”, as the Government prepared to invite offers of help from businesses and members of the public, including donations of clothes and toys.
It emerged that Musa Popal, 60, a London shopkeeper, and Sultan Mohammed Rez, a minicab driver also from the capital, were among at least three British citizens who died in Thursday’s airport terror attack.
The Pentagon said it had killed two “high-profile” Islamic State targets, and injured another, in a Reaper drone strike in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province, in response to the Kabul bombing.
US President Joe Biden said another terror attack on Kabul airport was "highly likely in the next 24-36 hours".
Pen Farthing, a former Royal Marine attempting to take animals out of Afghanistan, was the final civilian to leave the airport, on a chartered flight. He was understood to have told an adviser to the Defence Secretary “I am going to destroy you” in a threatening voicemail over the Government’s handling of the evacuation.
After the final RAF flight left Kabul, the Prime Minister said: “Twenty years ago, in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, the first British soldier set foot on Afghan soil aiming to create a brighter future for the country and all its people.
“The departure of the last British soldiers from the country is a moment to reflect on everything we have sacrificed and everything we have achieved in the last two decades.
“The nature of our engagement in Afghanistan may have changed, but our goals for the country have not. We will now use all the diplomatic and humanitarian tools at our disposal to preserve the gains of the last 20 years and give the Afghan people the future they deserve.”
American soldiers will be the final Western troops to leave Kabul airport, in advance of the August 31 deadline agreed with the Taliban by Mr Biden. The number of American troops had fallen to less than 4,000.
The number of people Britain has helped to flee Afghanistan since April reached 17,000 after a further 1,500 departed on Saturday, making a total of 15,000 in the past fortnight on 100 RAF flights.
Operation Pitting, the effort to rescue British citizens and Afghans from Kabul, was the largest British military evacuation since the Second World War. The 15,000 evacuated included 5,000 British nationals and their families and more than 8,000 Afghans who had worked for the UK, along with their families.
Among the evacuees were 2,200 children, including a girl born on board a flight to Britain early on Saturday.
As part of Operation PITTING eligible Afghans are also being evacuated to the UK via the UAE under the Afghan Relocation and Assistance Program (ARAP)|CREDIT: MOD
The mother, Soman Noori, 26, started having contractions during the Turkish Airlines flight from Dubai to Birmingham, and gave birth as the plane flew at an altitude of 33,000ft in Kuwaiti airspace. Ms Noori and her baby, who was named Havva, were both in good health, the airline said.
The Armed Forces have also been flying in supplies for evacuees, including 250,000 litres of bottled water.
A C-17 leaving Kabul last week carried 436 people, the largest capacity flight in RAF history.
Officials said the Government intended to “re-establish our diplomatic presence in Kabul as soon as the security and political situation in the country allows it”.
In an open letter, the Prime Minister thanked Britain’s military personnel for keeping “al-Qaeda from our door for two decades”.
“Over the last two weeks, I have been lost in admiration for the heroic efforts of everyone engaged on Op Pitting,” he said.
“There has been nothing like it in speed and scale, certainly in my lifetime. Your efforts in difficult and hostile circumstances have seen the evacuation of thousands of British nationals alongside Afghans who worked with us, and who will now start new lives in the UK.”
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The number of Afghans anxiously awaiting flights out of Kabul dwindled on Saturday as the Taliban expanded the security cordon around the airport.
Eyewitnesses said the Taliban has become far more aggressive in policing checkpoints outside the airport, where only those on approved lists are being allowed inside.
Some Taliban fighters angrily warned reporters that their clothing was immodest - "not Sharia compliant" - and seemed irritated by the sight of foreigners in the area.
The Telegraph saw several hundred people queuing up to be processed at a checkpoint, including children, on Saturday.
Taliban fighters were firing shots into the air in what appeared to be an attempt to make the evacuees hurry up. Many of the people in the queue were visibly terrified.
Ironically, some of the Taliban were wearing the combat fatigues of the President's Protection Services, the elite unit that guarded the head of the collapsed Afghan government.
When approached for an interview, the Taliban fighters simply pointed to the Afghans in the queue and insisted that the "situation was under control."
On Saturday, at Kabul airport The Telegraph saw several hundred people queuing up to be processed at a checkpoint, including children.
Taliban fighters were firing shots into the air. Many of the people in the queue were visibly frightened. The Taliban deployed an unidentified type of coloured smoke in some areas of the airport to disperse crowds.
In a statement, Mr Biden said there would be further drone strikes on Islamic State Khorasan.
“We will continue to hunt down any person involved in that heinous attack and make them pay,” he said.
“Our commanders informed me that an attack is highly likely in the next 24-36 hours. Despite the treacherous situation in Kabul, we are continuing to evacuate civilians."
The Government has pledged it will do all it can to welcome Afghan refugees arriving in Britain, with a dedicated programme of support entitled Operation Warm Welcome.
The plans will be overseen by Victoria Atkins, a Home Office minister, who will also become the dedicated minister for Afghan resettlement, with the aim of paying the debt of gratitude owed to “the Afghans who stood side by side with us in conflict”.