14m
7 Dec 2021

Afghan refugees abandoned by UK says whistleblower

Senior Political Correspondent

A former diplomat has claimed that many Afghans were abandoned to their fate at the hands of the Taliban during a “chaotic” and “dysfunctional” evacuation.

Raphael Marshall told MPs that only a tiny fraction of people who applied to escape under a UK scheme were given any help at all.

Meanwhile Boris Johnson rejected claims that he had directly ordered the rescue of animals from Afghanistan – potentially putting the live of British troops at risk – describing it as “complete nonsense”.