UK withdraws troops from Afghanistan but leaves hundreds of Afghans behind

British forces disembark from a flight in Kabul at Brize Norton Air Force Base in Oxfordshire – POOL / AFP

The United Kingdom on Saturday (28) ended its operation to withdraw from Afghanistan after leaving a flight with its last soldiers in the country, and said it regretted being unable to evacuate hundreds of Afghan collaborators.

The Ministry of Defense said on Twitter that “a recent flight carrying members of the British Armed Forces has left Kabul”, a message accompanied by a picture of soldiers looking tired as they boarded the plane.

Hours earlier, the United Kingdom sent its last aircraft to evacuate civilians from Afghanistan and devoted its last efforts to evacuating the remaining diplomatic and military staff before the August 31 deadline for the departure of US forces.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson thanked everyone involved in the operation and indicated that 15,000 people had been evacuated in at least two weeks.

“I would like to thank all the participants and the thousands who have served there over the past two decades,” he said in a message on social media.

The UK’s armed forces chief, General Nick Carter, said the withdrawal had “taken as far as possible” but that it was “unfortunate” that we “were not able to get them all out”.

Carter estimated the number of eligible Afghans who did not evacuate at “a few hundred.”

Defense Secretary Ben Wallace had previously estimated that between 800 and 1,100 Afghans were eligible to move under the UK’s “no-exit” scheme.

Among the last to leave Kabul was the British director of the animal charity Nawzad or Paul or “Pen” Farthing, whose campaign to evacuate 200 cats and dogs on a private charter plane has sparked controversy in the UK.

“We are relieved to confirm that Ben and Nawzad’s animals left Afghanistan this afternoon and are safe,” the organization said on Twitter.

Farthing’s insistence on getting the animals out while many Afghans stayed behind, including some Nawzad employees, was widely criticized in the UK.

The chairman of the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, Tom Tugendhat, explained to Radio LBC that an Afghan translator who was working for the UK asked him, “Why is my five-year-old son worth less than a dog?”