No evacuation planes leaving Afghanistan empty, says defence secretary

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An RAF Airbus KC2 Voyager aircraft, believed to be carrying passengers repatriated from Afghanistan, lands at RAF Brize Norton
AFP via Getty Images

The UK is using “every space possible” on its evacuation flights leaving Afghanistan, according to the Defence Secretary.

Ben Wallace said other nations have been offered places on UK planes, with Nato interpreters and some Japanese people “in need” among those to receive help, BBC News reported.

Reports suggested evacuation flights to other countries had left Kabul with only a handful of people on board.

But Mr Wallace told Times Radio: “Our people are getting through, we haven’t sent a single empty plane home.

“And I don’t think many other nations have.

“I can’t speak for other nations, obviously, but fundamentally the key here is when we have a plane, if we have a single empty seat, we will offer it to other nations.

“We’ve taken out interpreters who work for Nato, for example, we’ve taken out fellow European or other… we took some Japanese people out recently who were in need, so we will use every space on our planes possible.”

About 4,500 US troops are in temporary control of Karzai International Airport, with about 900 British soldiers working alongside them to secure evacuation flights.

The British ambassador to Afghanistan Sir Laurie Bristow has said Foreign Office personnel hope to get “at least” 1,000 people out of the country every day – but warned there were “days, not weeks” left to complete the mission.

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the UK had secured the “safe return” of 306 UK nationals and 2,052 Afghan nationals as part of its resettlement programme – with a further 2,000 Afghan applications completed and more being processed.

Mr Wallace said UK troops would stay in Afghanistan “as long as the United States forces are running the airport”.

US President Joe Biden suggested his troops would stay in Afghanistan until the evacuation of Americans is complete, even if that runs past the August 31 deadline for withdrawal.

Mr Wallace told BBC Breakfast: “They’re doing everything from the control tower to the firefighters, they are running that airport.

“So in that sense, if the US stay, that gives us an opportunity to continue this.

“I’ve always said our scheme is open-ended and we’re never going to close that scheme.

“So long, long after we are gone, whenever that is, we are starting to invest in third-country hubs already so we can process people if they get out to other countries in the region.”

Mr Wallace said seven to 10 RAF planes were taking off every day, with at least 138 due on the next flight out.

Additional reporting by PA Media.

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