Final UK Flight for Civilians Leaves Afghanistan’s Capital Kabul says Government

The UK’s final evacuation flight purely for civilians has left Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, the Ministry of Defense has said.

Further flights which leave will have UK diplomatic and military personnel on board, it added.

The head of the armed forces, Gen Sir Nick Carter, said it was “heartbreaking” they had not been able to rescue everybody.

He said hundreds of Afghans eligible to come to the UK remained in Afghanistan.

A mass airlift has been under way since the Taliban took control of the capital, with a deadline of 31 August in place for foreign troops to leave the country.

The US has been running the airport in Afghanistan’s capital, where a suicide bomb attack on Thursday may have killed as many as 170 people – including two British nationals and the child of a British national.

Among those killed in the attack was Mohammad Niazi – a taxi driver from London – who had travelled to Afghanistan to help his family get inside the airport.

It has not been confirmed whether he was one of the UK nationals referred to by the Foreign Office.

His brother Abdul Hamid said Mr Niazi been killed during the firing in the aftermath of the blast. He said his wife and two of his children were still missing.

More than 1,000 UK troops were in Kabul helping to process departures at the airport at the height of the operation. Some have already left and the rest will depart over the weekend.

The British ambassador to Afghanistan, Sir Laurie Bristow, who remained at Kabul airport, tweeted that nearly 15,000 people had been evacuated but it was “time to close this phase of the operation now”.

He added: “But we haven’t forgotten the people who still need to leave. We’ll continue to do everything we can to help them.”