UK deploys crisis response teams to help people cross Afghan border
The UK Foreign Office has announced it is deploying three consular teams to Afghanistan’s neighbouring countries to help those seeking to flee the country for the UK.
In a statement released this evening, foreign secretary Dominic Raab acknowledged the people eligible for UK support who were stuck in Afghanistan after the UK ended its evacuation, and said: “We will stand by them.”
Fifteen specially trained crisis response staff are due to arrive in Pakistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan over the next 48 hours, in an effort to boost the work of diplomats on the ground.
UK nationals, Afghans being resettled under the Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy (ARAP) scheme, and Afghans classed by the FCDO as “most at risk” will be helped at the borders by the new teams.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said it is working with the Home Office and third countries to “identify practical solutions” to enable people to cross land borders out of Afghanistan, including providing documentation that clarifies people are transiting and are guaranteed entry to the UK.
The FCDO also said it was working to create processes for security and identity checks of those arriving in the UK.
“The UK evacuated over 15,000 people from Afghanistan over the past fortnight, but we know not everyone who wanted to leave and were eligible for UK support could,” said foreign secretary Dominic Raab.
“We will stand by them, and we’re working with partners in neighbouring countries to support onward travel to the UK.”
“These latest Rapid Deployment teams will bolster those efforts and reinforce our Embassy teams on the ground to help those in need.”
It comes after senior Labour figures, charities and others accused ministers of being “missing in action” during the Afghanistan crisis, with claims that up to 9,000 people who may have been eligible to escape – such as women, journalists, and aid workers – were left behind.
But earlier today, Raab told Sky News that the number of British nationals still in Afghanistan is in the low hundreds.
“I know that the number of UK nationals, the particular responsibility of the Foreign Office, is now down at a very low level… low hundreds given that we have taken in total 5,000 out,” Raab said.
The foreign secretary, who has received backlash for remaining on holiday while the crisis in Afghanistan unfolded, said it was “unclear” when the airport in the country’s capital Kabul would be operating again.
Kabul airport, which has seen a massive influx of Afghans desperate to flee the country, was targeted by suicide bombing attacks which killed nearly 200 people and two British citizens last week.
ISIS-K, an affiliate group of ISIS, has claimed responsibility for the attacks, which prompted targeted air strikes from the US.
With UK and US troops officially out of the country, Raab has advised those still looking to leave Afghanistan to find a route to the UK via neighbouring countries.
His comments come as the head of the Royal Air Force (RAF) confirmed that the UK is “ready” to launch strikes in Afghanistan, targeting ISIS and ISIS-K.
RAF air chief marshal Mike Wigston said: “Ultimately what this boils down to is that we’ve got to be able to play a global role in the Global Coalition to Defeat Daesh [ISIS], whether it’s strike, or whether it’s moving troops or equipment into a particular country, at scale and at speed.
“If there’s an opportunity for us to contribute I am in no doubt that we will be ready to – that will be anywhere where violent extremism raises its head, and is a direct or indirect threat to the UK and our allies.”