The UK may face its ‘biggest hostage crisis ever’ after it emerged that up to 1,100 people are going to be left behind in Afghanistan.
With the British army wrapping up its massive airlift operation today, a senior Tory MP has raised fears for those who remain stuck in the country.
Tom Tugendhat said his own interpreter who he worked with while he served in Afghanistan is among those unlikely to escape.
Speaking to Sky News, the MP, who chairs the Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee, said: ‘There’s a possibility we may find ourselves with the biggest hostage crisis the UK has ever seen.’
The former army officer urged people not to attempt to travel to the airport in a last-ditch attempt to get on a flight because it is too dangerous.
He said efforts are ongoing to try to get some of the remaining allies out via other means.
He told BBC Breakfast: ‘It still leaves me extremely sad that so many of my friends have been left behind.
‘What I am working on, and you’ll understand I’m afraid that I’m not going to give you complete details about this, we’re looking at different networks to get people into second countries, and then connecting them to high commissions and ambassadors of the United Kingdom, to get them to the UK safely.’
The last flights are preparing to leave Kabul today after a two-week operation to evacuate the country following the Taliban’s seizure of power.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said on Friday night that only those UK nationals and Afghans who had already been processed would now be airlifted from the airport to free up space for the remaining UK diplomats and military personnel.
Boris Johnson has pledged to ‘shift heaven and earth’ to allow those who wished to leave the country to do so after the August 31 withdrawal deadline set by the Americans.
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace admitted there were between 800 and 1,100 Afghans who were eligible to be evacuated who would be left behind, while around 100 and 150 UK nationals will be left in Afghanistan, although Mr Wallace said some of those were staying willingly.
US president Joe Biden has been briefed that ‘another terror attack in Kabul is likely’, after Thursday’s deadly blast which killed 170 civilians and 13 US service personnel.
Last night the US retaliated for the attack by killing a ISIS planner in an airstrike, which is likely to inflame tensions further.
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab confirmed two British adults and the child of a British national died in the explosion at the airport.
The BBC reported a London taxi driver, Mohammad Niazi, had been killed in the Kabul attack after flying out to help his family to return home, but it was not confirmed if he was one of the UK nationals referred to by the Foreign Office.
While The Times reported that the injured child, believed to be aged under 10, was related to one of the adults killed.
The MoD said on Friday night that 14,543 people had now been extracted from Kabul since August 13, a mix of Afghan and British nationals.
Some 8,000 of those were Afghans and their families under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (Arap) scheme, which applies to those who helped the UK and are at risk of persecution by the Taliban.
MORE : Dad who flew from London to Afghanistan to rescue family killed in airport blast
MORE : Last UK flights to leave Kabul today with ‘more than 1,000 Afghans left behind’
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