UK ambassador to Afghanistan says time has come to end airlift

Record ID: 1634060

  • Title: UK ambassador to Afghanistan says time has come to end airlift
  • Date: 28th August 2021
  • Summary: KABUL, AFGHANISTAN (AUGUST 28,2021) (REUTERS) PEOPLE BOARDING EVACUATION PLANE AT KABUL AIRPORT PLANE LANDING
  • Embargoed: 11th September 2021 17:29
  • Keywords: Afghanistan evacuation British ambassador in Afghanistan Kabul Laurie Bristow taliban
  • Location: KABUL, AFGHANISTAN
  • City: KABUL, AFGHANISTAN
  • Country: Afghanistan
  • Topics: Asia / Pacific,Conflicts/War/Peace,Military Conflicts
  • Reuters ID: LVA001ES71D8N
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Britain's ambassador to Afghanistan, Laurie Bristow, said on Saturday (August 28), that the time had come to end an airlift which had evacuated almost 15,000 Afghan and British citizens over the past two weeks.
    The last British flight evacuating civilians from Afghanistan has left Kabul, bringing to an end an operation that has airlifted almost 15,000 Afghan and British citizens in the two weeks since the Taliban took control.
    Britain's armed forces are now preparing to leave and will take small numbers of Afghan citizens with them on remaining flights this weekend, according to the defense ministry.
    "It's time to close this phase of the operation down. But we haven't forgotten the people who still need to leave, and we will do everything we can to help them," Britain's ambassador to Afghanistan, Laurie Bristow, said in a statement filmed on the tarmac at Kabul's airport.
    Some British troops have already departed, and a British military transport plane carrying armed forces members landed at an airbase in southern England on Saturday.
    (Production: Chiara Rodriquez)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2021. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
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