Those left behind in Kabul by Britain include students, interpreters and a Glasgow cabbie
Among those we may come to call "the abandoned" is a former British soldier who helped many people leave Kabul after the Taliban’s invasion.
By Tony Diver, POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT ; Patrick Sawer, SENIOR NEWS REPORTER ; Max Stephens and Suddaf Chaudry|Telegraph
Ben Slater, a former soldier and bodyguard who is now stranded in Afghanistan |CREDIT: Handout
They are names that may yet come back to haunt Britain after its last planes left Kabul airport, signalling the end of our 20-year presence in Afghanistan.
They include former British Army interpreters, the alumni of British universities, a Glasgow cabbie and even a former British bodyguard to our ambassadors in the country, as well as countless others abandoned in the scramble to leave.
General Sir Nick Carter said on Saturday that there were still some civilian flights leaving Kabul for the UK, but "very few now". He admitted it was "heartbreaking" they had not been able to rescue everybody.
Among those we may come to call "the abandoned" is a former British soldier who helped dozens of people leave Kabul after the Taliban’s invasion.
He is now stranded in Afghanistan after the Foreign Office bungled the paperwork necessary to evacuate him.
They are names that may yet come back to haunt Britain after its last planes left Kabul airport, signalling the end of our 20-year presence in Afghanistan.
They include former British Army interpreters, the alumni of British universities, a Glasgow cabbie and even a former British bodyguard to our ambassadors in the country, as well as countless others abandoned in the scramble to leave.
General Sir Nick Carter said on Saturday that there were still some civilian flights leaving Kabul for the UK, but "very few now". He admitted it was "heartbreaking" they had not been able to rescue everybody.
Among those we may come to call "the abandoned" is a former British soldier who helped dozens of people leave Kabul after the Taliban’s invasion.
He is now stranded in Afghanistan after the Foreign Office bungled the paperwork necessary to evacuate him.
Afghans queue at the main entrance gate of Kabul airport |CREDIT: AFP
Ben Slater, a former bodyguard to ambassadors including Mark Sedwill, runs an NGO in Afghanistan and said he felt “let down” by the UK Government after he worked with the British military to get Westerners on evacuation flights, but cannot get on one himself.
Mr Slater says that if he and his 50 members of staff, who are Afghan women eligible for the UK’s special cases refugee programme, are left in Kabul they will face retribution from the new Taliban regime.
On Saturday, as the last UK military evacuation flights left Kabul airport, he said he had given up hope of being rescued by Britain.
“Thus far I’ve helped 67 do the impossible and could not help my own people yet,” he said. “Me leaving them behind in my eyes is murder. I can’t live with that.”
Mr Slater said he was still exploring other options for escape from Kabul and has contacted Sir Richard Branson in the hope he can help.
Mr Slater’s company, Nomad Concepts, has been assisting Westerners and Afghans to get out of the capital since the airlift began a fortnight ago.
He said his wife, three children and elderly mother are now being looked after by a couple they had met outside Kabul airport two days ago.
"We've been let down massively. I'm still waiting,” he said. “I am still helping the government that let me down, and I will continue to do so, and we will pick up anybody we can on the way."
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.
Gunfire rang out both inside and around the airport and was more frequent than in recent days, adding to the sense of urgency surrounding the final stages of the Western evacuation.
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 they insisted that the "situation was under control."
The process of entering the airport can be hugely frustrating for Afghans as they must pass through multiple checkpoints and can only hope each one will allow them through.
SOURCE: UNHCR REFUGEE DATA FINDER
In some cases, evacuees have been let through three checkpoints only to be turned away at the fourth, despite them having the correct documents.
Elsewhere amid the chaos a British interpreter has been forced to make a break for the country’s border after Kabul airport closed its gates.
Barricaded inside a shop alongside his young family, all suffering from typhoid and dysentery, he said he had no choice but to make the perilous 800 kilometre journey in the 40 degree heat, with barely enough food and water to sustain them and the constant threat of roaming Taliban patrols.
Hours before he left for the border by car, with Taliban soldiers patrolling in the streets outside his home a few kilometres away from the airport, the interpreter - who we are not naming for his own protection - told the Telegraph: “This is not life. The UK has given me an offer to stay in the UK, but now they are shutting down everything".
Despite being approved to come to the UK under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) for assisting British soldiers at the height of the Taliban insurgency in 2006, the interpreter has received no help from the Foreign Office since Kabul fell.
Living in terrible conditions
For days on end the family had camped in a sewage-filled ditch outside the airport, waiting for their names to be called forward by British soldiers.
His wife had pleaded with him to leave, telling him: 'We cannot stay anymore in Kabul, the UK doesn't care about you, they don't care about your children. We have finished our money, we just have God, nobody else.”
A former major in the British Army who served alongside the interpreter in Helmand between 2005 and 2006, told the Telegraph: “He is one of the abandoned ones. He is going to have to get himself across the border and swim through all the gallons of refugees that are going to be there.”
Also hiding in Kabul are around 70 alumni of the Chevening programme, which funds one-year master’s degrees at UK universities, and their families.
Since studying in the UK, the alumni - about 40 per cent of whom are women - have risen to high positions in government, businesses and charities in Afghanistan, but now face the wrath of the Taliban.
Following the end of the rescue flights they too feel let down by the UK.
One 36-year-old alumnus, who cannot be named for fear of retaliation, told the Telegraph: “We need to be evacuated, but we have received no help or advice from the UK authorities. Nobody feels safe. Now the flights have stopped, we have to choose between two risks; hiding at home and waiting for the Taliban to find us or try to get to the border with Pakistan so that from there we can travel to Britain.
Afghan evacuees queue before boarding a military aircraft |CREDIT: Reuters
“Like other Chevening alumni I’m at risk because of my work here. So are my wife and two children. But nobody from the UK has got in touch with us despite their repeated commitments.”
Another of those left behind is a Glaswegian cab driver and his family - all UK citizens - who spend the past five days frantically trying to get into Kabul airport. In a moving video posted on Twitter he asked: “They’re not letting anyone in. What’s our next step? What should we do? It’s dangerous to go ahead.”
A Foreign Office spokesman would not comment on individual cases, but said: “Our staff are working tirelessly to facilitate the swift evacuation of British nationals, Afghan staff and others at risk.
“The scale of the evacuation effort is huge and we have helped nearly 15,000 people leave Afghanistan since the evacuation began. We continue to put pressure on the Taliban to allow safe passage out of Afghanistan for those who want to leave.”
Meanwhile, The Observer claimed thousands of emails from MPs and charities highlighting potentially eligible cases went unread by the department.
A whistleblower with access to the Foreign Office email accounts reportedly showed The Observer that an inbox used to receive potential Afghan evacuation cases from MPs and others regularly had a 5,000 unread email backlog, with emails from Government ministers, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, and MPs going unopened.
The FCDO told The Observer: "We have been working tirelessly to evacuate over 15,000 people from Afghanistan in the last two weeks. We deployed a 24/7 cross-Whitehall team based in our crisis hub to triage incoming emails and calls from British nationals, Arap applicants, and other vulnerable Afghans."
A spokesman added: "We always cautioned that the nature of the security situation in Afghanistan meant that we would not be able to evacuate everyone we wanted to."