First flight since US withdrawal evacuates 13 Britons from Kabul
THIRTEEN British people were successfully evacuated from Kabul to Doha, Qatar, last night on the first international commercial flight out of the Afghan capital since the US withdrawal.
The Britons were among over 100 passengers, including Americans, Canadians and Germans who the Taliban allowed to board a Qatar Airways Boeing 777.
Dominic Raab, the Foreign Secretary, said: “We are grateful to our Qatari friends for facilitating a flight carrying 13 British nationals from Kabul to safety in Doha. We expect the Taliban to keep to their commitment to allow safe passage for those who want to leave.”
Arranging the mercy flight was one of the key aims of Mr Raab’s’s trip to Doha last week.
Before it took off the Britons were instructed by UK officials to make their own way through Kabul to a meeting point.
A diplomatic source told The Daily Telegraph: “It’s obviously difficult. We don’t have people ‘in country’, so we are limited on who we can get back. We knew of people who were trapped there and wanted to come back. We knew they were who they said they were.”
The source added: “These are people who were called forward previously as eligible to get onto flights out. For one reason or another they were not able to get on those flights.”
The flight marked the beginning of a second phase of evacuation efforts and several more will follow in the coming days, the Telegraph understands.
Many of those who made it on board the Qatar Airways flight were understood to be media workers.
It was understood the flights were made possible when the Taliban agreed to guarantee the safety of aviation officials who worked for the previous government.
Officials suggested evacuees being flown to Qatar was a temporary arrangement, and did not amount to a reopening of Kabul airport for normal commercial operations.