Government says there is ‘ongoing and high threat’ of attack as Defence Secretary tells Afghans to ‘explore other routes’ to safety

By Lucy Fisher, DEPUTY POLITICAL EDITOR ; Max Stephens ; Suddaf Chaudry IN KABUL and Ben Farmer IN ISLAMABAD

Britons were on Wednesday night told to leave Kabul airport because of the "ongoing and high threat" of a terror attack.

It came as stranded Afghan interpreters were told to consider escaping the country over land borders rather than seeking air lifts as UK troops prepare to withdraw before the end of the week.

On Wednesday night Ben Wallace told MPs on a briefing call that interpreters and other vulnerable Afghans seeking evacuation should "explore another route" to safety if they have not been called forward to the airfield in the capital yet.

Admitting that it was "not comfortable to say it", he signalled there would be "a certain point" when the UK has to "make a decision" to end mercy flights. "I wouldn't go forward [to Kabul airport] if you haven't been called," he said.

His intervention came as the deadline loomed for the drawdown of Western troops in five days' time on Aug 31. British forces are expected to exit before the final US personnel leave.

In new advice to Britons in Afghanistan, the Foreign Office warned that the security situation in the country was "volatile" and added: "Do not travel to Kabul airport. If you are in the area of the airport, move away to a safe location and await further advice."

On Wednesday night the US State Department also advised Americans to avoid the airport and said: "US citizens who are at Abbey Gate, East Gate, or North Gate now should leave immediately.” The alert advised Americans to "be aware of your surroundings at all times, especially in large crowds".

One Western diplomat said there were an estimated 1,500 US passport or visa holders still trying to enter the airport. 

Mr Wallace warned that trying to get to a "third country" in the region may be a "better option" for desperate Afghans, given the Taliban's announcement that they do not want Afghan nationals leaving the country.

"It is higher profile going to the airport. That is where the Taliban will be focusing their efforts at the moment,” he said.

Acknowledging that “not everyone is going to get out”, he told MPs to prepare for “heartbreaking” stories from Afghans getting in touch over email and in person in coming weeks.

Calls to reveal 'Plan B' 

A British businessman living in northern London on Monday told The Telegraph how he feared for the safety of his wife, three children and elderly mother currently trapped outside Kabul airport.

The e-commerce trader, who is a British citizen and whose children are British nationals, said: “My family are not even close to the Baron Hotel, they are around the airport waiting for a chance that I will manage something for them.

“They are physically ok but mentally sick… My wife is crying, telling me that it is impossible to even travel 10 metres forwards, we cannot make it because we are ladies and we cannot do anything.”

He called on the Government to reveal its “plan B” for helping those left behind when the mercy flights end.

The Government's latest advice for UK nationals in Afghanistan urges them to leave the vicinity of Kabul airport due to the "ongoing and high threat" of a terror attack. 

The Government is most concerned about Isis-K mounting their signature attack – a suicide bomb followed by a small arms fire assault – at Kabul airport.

On Thursday morning, the Armed Forces minister James Heappey said the threat of an attack had grown. 

"There is now very, very credible reporting of an imminent attack, and hence why the Foreign Office adve was changed last night, that people should not come to Kabul Airport, they should move to a safe place and await further instructions," he told Radio 4's Today programme.

"I think there is an appetite amongst many in the queue to take their chances, but the reporting of this threat is very credible indeed. There is a real imminence to it."

ISIS-K presence in Afghanistan

British soldiers have set up barriers around the evacuation handling centre to protect against a car bomb or individual suicide bomber and military planners are alive to the threat.

At least 1,500 Afghan translators and other local staff formerly employed by Britain are yet to be rescued, although ministers remain confident the majority of this group will be airlifted before the UK forces’ exit.

The UK is set to evacuate another 2,000 people from the Central Nation in the next 24 hours. So far almost 11,500 people have been rescued from Afghanistan by the RAF since August 13.

However, government sources admitted that British nationals would be left behind after the military evacuation ended, along with vulnerable Afghans eligible to apply for resettlement in the UK.

Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, on Wednesday night said the Taliban had committed to providing safe passage for Americans and at-risk Afghans who wanted to leave the country after the US withdrawal.

Britain has declined to confirm when the final civilian evacuations and its military withdrawal will take place in coming days, amid fears of triggering a surge in the crowds or a terror attack at Kabul airport.

The Pentagon confirmed that while the US armed forces will continue to evacuate people until the deadline, they will prioritise the extraction of 5,400 American troops and military equipment in the last few days beforehand. 

Poland halted its withdrawal efforts on Wednesday. On Thursday, France's prime minister, Jean Castex, said his country will no longer be able to evacuate people from Kabul airport after Friday night.

Mr Wallace told MPs there was an average 16-hour wait at Abbey Gate, the UK gate at Kabul airport.

He said he had information to suggest that the Taliban would seek to keep the airport operational once western forces leave next Tuesday.

The Taliban told Germany that Afghans with legal documents will be able to travel on commercial flights beyond Aug 31, a senior German diplomat said.

Nonetheless, Mr Wallace said moves are afoot to “beef up” British embassies and consular operations in countries neighbouring Afghanistan, including Pakistan, in order to process Afghans seeking to come to the UK more quickly.

He added that Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, is preparing to change the regulations to speed up the process.

The number of Afghans coming forward to seek evacuation to the UK has far exceeded the Government’s estimates, it is understood.

Window of opportunity is narrowing 

As the final phase of the airlift evacuation approaches, British soldiers are left with only the clothes they are standing in, their weapons, and small “day sacks”, it is understood. The bulk of military equipment and stores have been sent ahead in anticipation of the troop drawdown.

The window of opportunity for Afghan interpreters who served with British forces to be airlifted out is swiftly narrowing.

James Glancy, a former Royal Marine trying to get out former interpreters, said only 33 of his evacuation list of 135 had made it.

He said: “The chaos at the airport and the diminishing timeline are making this an horrendous task to get them all out.”

Andrew Fox, a former paratrooper, added: “I’ve been helping a chap on the refugee scheme. He’s been called forward to the airport and has been touching the gate for 24 hours.

“His name hasn’t been called by the ‘local security’ as they’re taking bribes. Those who pay, get in. It’s not an option for this guy. It’s appalling.”

Another man, Najibullah Alizadeh, posted a video of blood pouring from his own head. He said: “They [the Taliban] hit me. I am Australian citizen.”

Claims of Taliban reprisals emerged elsewhere in the country, including reports that the Islamist group shot dead a former provincial police chief in a revenge attack despite promises of a general amnesty.

Sakhi Akbari was deployed in the western Farah province, where security forces fought fiercely with the Taliban over several years before the Islamists’ sudden takeover.

It was also reported that Taliban soldiers beat up Ziad Yaad, a journalist for independent news channel Tolo News, while he was filming in central Kabul on Wednesday.

At the main Abbey gate entrance to the airport, the air is filled with the stench of sewage and the street littered with the rubbish and debris of long, tense days of human despair.

Members of one of the Taliban’s elite “red units” were on Wednesday guarding the gate, wearing military fatigues and pushing back anyone who did not hold the necessary paperwork to pass through.

Refugees sat on the ground surrounded by rubbish and leaned in fatigue and dejection against meal containers under the searing sun. From inside the airport comes the constant roar of military transporters’ engines as planes take off several times an hour.

Young men perched on luggage unsure of the reality ahead. Two young boys who asked not to be named, said: “It is difficult, we don’t know when the wait will be over, and if the gate will open, do you know?”

Vast pools filled with contaminated water in between the street towards the military entrance, the air is thick with the smell of sewage.

A man in his 30s put his elderly mother into a wheelbarrow so he could wheel her to the other side as she was unable to physically walk.

A British man who fled Afghanistan with his pregnant wife has begged for help after UK authorities turned his mother and sister away from his evacuation flight.

Mohammad, whose name has been changed to protect his family, arrived at a compound in Kabul for an evacuation flight last week with his wife, who is due to give birth early next year, elderly mother and sister.

The 24-year-old cab driver from London has British citizenship and his wife was granted access with him, but his mother and sister were carrying Afghan passports and ID cards.