I HELPED GET THOUSANDS TO SAFETY
Gerry part of 24/7 Afghan mission
A Stirling diplomat was part of the UK Government crisis team who helped 15,000 people flee from the Taliban. Gerry McGurk faced a race against time to get as many people out as a humanitarian crisis loomed over Afghanistan.
Working 24/7 from a bunker in the basement of the Foreign Office in London, the team took calls from and arranged safe passage for thousands of desperate people. Gerry, 50, (left) a former pupil of St Modan’s in Stirling, said: “It was not uncommon for the Taliban to be literally banging on the door while someone was calling us and there were also people showing bruises that they have from being beaten as they’ve tried to get through the checkpoints.”
Stirlingshire Scots were part of the UK Government crisis team who masterminded the mass evacuation of 15,000 people from Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.
Diplomat Gerry McGurk and private secretary Beccy Speedie faced a race against time to get as many people out of Kabul as they could.
Working 24/7 from a control hub in the basement of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in London, the team took calls from and arranged safe passage for thousands of desperate people.
From August 14 until the final British military flight departed on the evening of Saturday August 28, the UK Government evacuated over 15,000 Brits and Afghans, including around 2,200 children.
Stirling-born Gerry, 50, said: “It was not uncommon for the Taliban to be literally banging on the door while someone was calling us and there were also people showing bruises that they have from being beaten as they’ve tried to get through the checkpoints.
“I’ve sometimes needed to be there as a shoulder to cry on as it can be harrowing.”
Beccy, 26, from Bonnybridge, who worked for the crisis team’s Gold leader, said: “One of my friends said that he had to take a break from doing call handling because he was speaking to a woman whose husband was shot by the Taliban in front of her and their two kids. She was hysterical and terrified.”
Gerry added: “The pace was relentless. It was exhausting but the boost we were getting from news that we’d got someone out was a powerful motivator to keep going.
“The flights out may have now stopped, but the efforts to secure safe passage for any British or eligible Afghans remaining in the country will not cease.”
“Welcome to the Crisis Management Department,” reads the sign above the door into where the British evacuation of Afghanistan was masterminded.
It is here that all wings of the UK Government were brought together to orchestrate the response to the crisis: Foreign Office, Home Office and Ministry of Defence.
Describing the scene in the bunker, Gerry said on one wall is a detailed map of Kabul airport and the surrounding area with zones marked out in pink and green highlighter.
On another are a row of 24-hour clocks showing the time in cities across the world: London; Kabul; Washington and Baghdad.
In between are clusters of desks, six or eight people on each.
The room is packed with people working the phones to quite literally save lives in Afghanistan.
A message stuck to a landline phone on one crisis centre desk reads simply: “Keep calm and call the CMD.”
Around 110 people can fit in the centre at one time and they worked around the clock in shifts.
Gerry, who grew up in Stirling - attending St Mary’s Primary School, Bannockburn and St Modan’s High School, Stirling, said: “I’ve been a frequent visitor to this centre
having been involved in crisis responses for the Nepal earthquake, the Algeria terrorist attack, the Sousse terrorist attack, and Gaza evacuations to name but a few.
“I’m pretty battle hardened but this Afghanistan operation has not been an easy task and the television pictures have clearly illustrated how volatile the situation is on the ground.
“Our mission was essentially about getting as many British people and their families, as well as Afghans who have worked with us in the last 20 years, out of Afghanistan in a tight timeframe. We worked 24/7 making sure we used every minute of the day to get as many people as we could to the Kabul evacuation centre to be processed.
“Doing 12 or 13 hours days is exhausting, but at the end of the day we’ve helped get over 15,000 people out of a dreadful situation and that keeps you going.
“I think my colleagues taking calls from people in Kabul have found it really traumatic and difficult.”
Worldwide, more than 1000 Foreign Office staff have been working on the Afghanistan withdrawal, plus border officials and military personnel in other departments.
A team in Dubai has been processing those who land from Afghanistan. Likewise, teams in Birmingham and Heathrow have been receiving those who eventually make it to the UK.
Beccy was serving her first stint in the crisis centre – working as private secretary to the crisis team’s Gold leader.
She said: “Obviously, it has been quite an intense situation. Everyone was extremely busy and the stakes were so high.
“It’s really stressful both in terms of the content of what you are dealing with, and also the pace of work which was just relentless.
“I was starting my shifts at six o’clock in the morning, so have a nice early 4.30 wake-up to get here from Clapham. But in the context of the suffering of the people in Afghanistan in fear of their lives, it feels like a small price to pay.
“We simply had to get as many people out as we can.”
I’m pretty battle hardened but this Afghanistan operation has not been an easy taskh
Gerry McGurk