In Pictures: British troops in race against time to help Afghans escape Taliban

UK personnel are working tirelessly to help thousands of people desperate to flee Kabul.
British service personnel assist in the evacuation of Afghans from Kabul airport (LPhot Ben Shread/MoD/Crown Copyright/PA)
PA Media
Pa22 August 2021

British personnel at Kabul airport are working round the clock to evacuate thousands of people desperate to escape the clutches of Taliban fighters following their march to power in Afghanistan.

A full flight of 265 people on board an evacuation flight out of Kabul airport on Saturday (LPhot Ben Shread/MoD/PA)
PA Media
British troops on the ground at Kabul airport are working to process Afghans hoping to be evacuated (LPhot Ben Shread/MoD/Crown Copyright/PA)
PA Media
Thousands of Afghans have massed at the airport and nearby, hoping to secure their freedom (LPhot Ben Shread/MoD/Crown Copyright/PA)
PA Media
Flights out of Kabul operated by the RAF and other air forces are continuing daily, but the US has set a deadline for all evacuations of August 31 (LPhot Ben Shread/MoD/Crown Copyright/PA)
PA Media
UK armed forces minister James Heappey said on Sunday that eight RAF flights had left Kabul in the last 24 hours, carrying 1,721 people to safety (LPhot Ben Shread/MoD/Crown Copyright/PA)
PA Media
British troops have been working round the clock to process Afghans hoping to secure a life-saving place on one of the flights out (LPhot Ben Shread/MoD/Crown Copyright/PA)
PA Media
The evacuations, dubbed Operation Pitting, began on August 13 as the Taliban marched on Kabul (MoD/PA)
PA Media
More than 1,000 service personnel have been deployed to Kabul to assist the operation (MoD/PA)
PA Media
British ambassador to Afghanistan Sir Laurie Bristow, second right, also remains on the ground at Kabul airport to help organise the evacuations (FCO/PA)
PA Media
This is the sight they are all working towards – Afghans evacuated from Kabul arriving to safety in Britain (SAC Samantha Holden RAF/PA)
PA Media

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in