UK sends military troops to get British nationals out of Afghanistan
August 13, 2021, 3:31 am

UK sends military troops to get British nationals out of Afghanistan

troops in Afghanistan

According to the BBC, UK government announced that about 600 UK troops are to be sent to Afghanistan to assist British nationals to leave.

The announcement comes as the Taliban has seized the cities of Ghazni and Herat - and claimed the capture of the country's second-largest city Kandahar.

The BBC said, military personnel will provide protection and help relocate UK nationals, Afghan staff and interpreters.

It reported, last week the Foreign Office advised all British nationals to leave.

It is estimated that about 4,000 British citizens are still in the country.

According to the BBC, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said the security of British nationals, military personnel and former Afghan staff was the government's first priority and that it "must do everything we can to ensure their safety".

Read more: Taliban reaches Kandahar, Afghanistan’s second-largest city

Mr Wallace said deployment of troops, who will be arriving in the coming days, was a "pre-planned phase" and was to "enable the next step of leaving".

UK flag

But the Ministry of Defence said the additional deployment was "in light of the increasing violence and rapidly deteriorating security environment in the country".

The MoD said, the UK's ambassador to Afghanistan, Sir Laurie Bristow, will continue to lead a small team in Afghanistan which will relocate within Kabul to a more secure location.

As well as British nationals, the embassy will help the UK's Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP), which has already supported more than 3,100 former Afghan staff and their families to move to the UK, including 1,800 in the last few weeks, the MoD said.

It should be noted that thousands of civilians have been displaced and fled to Kabul to try to escape the fighting.

Source: BBC

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