https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/b...e-in-q99sth9bz
Britain prepares to end diplomatic mission in Afghanistan as Taliban close on Kabul
Britain is to abandon its diplomatic presence in Afghanistan as the Taliban surged to within seven miles of Kabul, sparking fears in Whitehall that the capital could be overrun in “a few days”.
Senior government sources said the UK would evacuate its ambassador and staff, and would no longer maintain an embassy outpost there.
The full extent of the British withdrawal became clear amid a swift Taliban advance. The fighters were clashing with the Afghan army just outside the capital, where western forces have set up a defensive perimeter at the airport….
Whitehall officials who began the weekend saying the withdrawal would be complete by August 31 and ended it with a senior source warning: “The fear is the airport will not hold for more than a few days.”.
A second added: “The majority of the evacuation will have to be done by the RAF. We will not maintain a diplomatic presence. There is no trust the Taliban will honour any assurances.”….
British troops were evacuating key nationals and setting up a processing centre to help 5,500 people escape.
The embassy staff are part of a contingent of 500 British government employees who need to leave Kabul. When cabinet ministers met in the Cobra emergency committee on Friday they were told that between 1,800 and 2,000 interpreters and their families also needed rescuing.
A further 3,000 “entitled personnel”, who include British and dual passport holders, some of whom work for security companies or aid organisations, are also included — although just 450 have registered an interest in leaving.
Military sources describe the evacuation operation as “high risk” and there are fears troops could come under Taliban attack or civil unrest could engulf the city. Possible threats include Taliban suicide bombers attempting to infiltrate the airport, civilians overwhelming the airport demanding to get on planes, or an airport crash closing the runway.
Another 2,000 people with some links to Britain could request safe passage. Military and intelligence sources say that as the evacuation nears its end and Kabul comes under attack there will be increasing requests from Afghan soldiers, intelligence agents and politicians for seats on RAF planes. The fate of Hamid Karzai, the former president, is of particular concern.
“Lots of British military personnel, diplomats and intelligence officials are seriously invested in Afghanistan and there is high-level pressure on ministers to provide hundreds of our key allies with sanctuary,” said a senior military source.
“We are not talking about some interpreters or the embassy cooks here. The SAS trained the Afghan special forces and MI6 has hundreds of allies across the local intelligence agencies. They want these people brought out and offering them sanctuary could be the key ensuring the evacuation runs smoothly as things start to break down in Kabul,” the source said.
Senior military sources say the Home Office is reluctant to give many of these people asylum because of the message it will send to other refugees. The collapse of Afghanistan is expected to lead to a wave of hundreds of thousands heading out of the country, helped on their way by hostile states such as Iran and Russia’s central Asian allies…..