The UK’s civilian evacuation operation in Afghanistan will end on Saturday, UK Armed Forces Chief General Nick Carter said ahead of the military’s withdrawal. “We are coming to the end of the evacuation, which will take place during the course of the day, and then it will of course be necessary to get our troops out on the remaining plane,” the general explained on BBC Radio 4.
The evacuation operation went “as smoothly as possible under the circumstances,” continued General Carter, “but we weren’t able to get everyone out and it’s heartbreaking.” According to the officer there are now only “very few” devices still evacuating civilians from Afghanistan via the Kabul airport, where thousands of people are massed in the hope of leaving Afghanistan, fallen in August in the hands of the Taliban.
More than 14,500 people had been evacuated since August 13
The Ministry of Defense assured on Friday that more than 14,500 people had been evacuated since August 13, including about 8,000 Afghans eligible for the program intended for Afghan personnel employed locally by the United Kingdom. He said that from now on only the candidates for departure whose cases had already been treated would be exfiltrated, after the closure of the treatment center at the Hotel Baron, near the airport.
“The UK’s ability to deal with other cases is now severely reduced and the additional figures (regarding evacuated civilians) will be limited,” he added, stressing the need to free up space “to bring out the remaining diplomats and military personnel ”. Defense Minister Ben Wallace estimated on Friday that up to 150 British nationals and between 800 and 1,100 eligible Afghans could not be exfiltrated, sparking outrage in the ranks of the conservatives in power and in the opposition.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, for his part, assured that he would move “heaven and earth” to continue to bring people out of Afghanistan after the date of August 31 scheduled for the withdrawal of American soldiers, at the end twenty years of war. Several countries have already announced that they have ended the evacuations, including France.