Head of Britain’s armed forces General Sir Nick Carter has said the UK is due to finish its evacuation operation from Afghanistan Saturday.
“Over hundreds of Afghans eligible to resettlement in Britain are most likely to be left behind”, General Carter told BBC.
Carter told BBC that the UK has some civilian flights to take out, but it is very few now.
We’re reaching the end of the evacuation, which will take place during the course of today. And then it will be necessary to bring our troops out on the remaining aircraft,” he added.
“Following our pre-planned timetable, processing facilities inside the Baron Hotel in Kabul have been closed. This will enable us to focus our efforts on evacuating the British nationals and others we have processed and who are at the airport awaiting departure,” UK’s Defence Ministry said in a statement Friday.
“The UK’s ability to process further cases is now extremely reduced and additional numbers will be limited. No further people will be called forward to the airport for evacuation. Evacuating all those civilians we have already processed will free up the capacity needed on UK military aircraft to bring out our remaining diplomats and military personnel, “said the statement.
“Our top priority as we move through this process will be the protection of all those involved who are operating in a heightened threat environment,” Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said in the statement.
It is with deep regret that not everyone has been able to be evacuated during this process, Wallace continued.“But I am proud of this remarkable achievement from our Border Force, Armed Forces, MOD, FCDO, Home Office who have evacuated over 13,000 people in 14 days during Operation Pitting. We will continue to honour our debt to all those who have not yet been able to leave Afghanistan. We will do all that we can to ensure they reach safety.”
The US and allied countries are rushing to complete their evacuations and troop withdrawals by August 31, a deadline agreed with the Taliban, which took power in the country earlier this month.
The German military ended its evacuation mission on Thursday. Some 500 Germans and more than 4,000 Afghans were among the more than 5,000 people flown out.
The French mission ended on Friday evening; Defence Minister Florence Parly wrote on Twitter. It brought some 3,000 people to safety, including more than 2,600 Afghans.
The US is also processing evacuees at several military installations across Europe and the Middle East before resettlement in the US, including more than 18,000 at Germany’s Ramstein Air Base.
As of Friday, the US said it had evacuated around 110,000 people since the mission began in mid-August.
Around 500 US citizens who want to leave are still in Afghanistan. The US State Department said it was in touch with them and hundreds of more nationals who were undecided on whether to leave.
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