Rockets are fired at Kabul airport as US troops race to evacuate

Rockets are fired at Kabul airport as US troops race to evacuate: Attack follows American drone strike on ISIS-K that killed three children and other civilians after setting off jihadists’ explosives

• At least five rockets fired at Kabul airport from the back of a car as US forces try to evacuate Afghanistan 
• Some fell short into the city, others were shout out of the sky. There were no immediate reports of casualties
• No group has yet claimed responsibility, but it comes just a day after the US thwarted an ISIS-K bomb attack by blowing up two cars full of explosives in a Reaper drone attack which also killed three children 
• ISIS-K also attacked the airport last week, killing 170 people including 13 US troops in a suicide bombing
• Rockets fell as US races to evacuate more than 3,000 troops still at the airfield before August 31 deadline 

Multiple rockets have been fired at Kabul airport today in just the latest attack as the US races to get its last troops out of Afghanistan before the August 31 deadline set by Joe Biden.

At least five missiles were fired, an American official told journalists, some of which fell short into the city while others were brought down by defence systems. There were no initial reports of US casualties but that information might change, the official added.

Afghan media said the rockets had been launched from the back of a truck and struck multiple parts of the city. No group has yet claimed responsibility, but it comes amid attacks by the ISIS-K terror group. 

On Sunday, and American drone blew up what was believed to be a group of ISIS-K suicide bombers planning an attack on the airport, killing three children in the process.

Several civilians were also injured when a missile fired from a Reaper drone struck two cars parked to the north of Hamid Karzai airport, triggering a secondary explosion which led to the civilian casualties. 

The death toll is expected to rise with Afghan TV reporting that as many as nine people died in the blast including six children, an interpreter who worked with US troops, and an Afghan army officer due to get married tomorrow.

The Taliban – which is now in control of Afghanistan and is enemies with ISIS-K – said it welcomed the US strike.  

Jus last week, ISIS-K carried out a successful suicide bomb attack at the airport which killed at least 170 people.

Most were civilians trying to board the last evacuation flights out of Afghanistan, but 13 were US troops. All civilian evacuation flights have now stopped, with planes diverted to airlift troops out. 

Having evacuated about 114,400 people – including foreign nationals and ‘at risk’ Afghans – in an operation that began a day before Kabul fell to the Taliban on Aug. 15, U.S. and allied forces are set to complete their own withdrawal by Tuesday to meet a deadline agreed with the Islamist militants.

The number of U.S. troops at the airport had fallen to below 4,000 over the weekend, with efforts to depart becoming more urgent after an Islamic State suicide bomb attack outside the gates on Thursday killed scores of Afghan civilians and 13 U.S. military personnel. 

At least five rockets were fired from the back of this car towards Kabul airport on Monday. Some fell short into the city, while others were intercepted by missile defences, American officials said

There were no immediate reports of casualties from the rocket strike and no group has yet claimed responsibility – though it comes amid a wave of ISIS-K attacks on US troops trying to flee the country

Afghans gather around the burned-out remains of a car that was used to launch rockets towards Kabul airport this morning as US troops prepare to fully withdraw from the country

A Taliban soldiers stands guard next to a burned-out vehicle that was used to launch rockets at Hamid Karzai airport

The car which was used to fire rockets at Hamid Karzai airport is seen on fire in the Laab-E Jaar neighborhood of Kabul

A destroyed vehicle is seen inside a house after a U.S. drone strike in Kabul, Afghanistan, this afternoon 

The strike destroyed a vehicle carrying ‘multiple suicide bombers’ from Afghanistan’s Islamic State affiliate on Sunday

A destroyed vehicle is seen inside a house after this afternoon’s drone strike, which vapourised several suicide bombers, according to officials 

A child in Kabul has been killed in an explosion as the US launched a military strike targeting a vehicle containing ‘multiple suicide bombers’ driving to the Afghan airport 

A Kabul police chief said a child was killed. Two witnesses said the blast appeared to have been caused by a rocket that struck a house in Khajeh Baghra area to the north of the airport 

The president saluted at the top of the stairs before boarding Air Force One on Sunday morning

The Pentagon said a US drone mission in eastern Afghanistan killed two members of the so-called Islamic State group’s Afghanistan affiliate early on Saturday in retaliation for the airport bombing

US Navy Captain Bill Urban, a military spokesman, had earlier said the military was investigating whether there were civilian casualties but that ‘we have no indications at this time’.

‘We are confident we successfully hit the target,’ Urban said. ‘Significant secondary explosions from the vehicle indicated the presence of a substantial amount of explosive material.’

Dina Mohammadi said her extended family were in the building and that several of them had been killed, including children. 

Ahmaduddin, a neighbour, said he had collected the bodies of children after the strike, which set off more explosions inside the house.

There were earlier reports of a possible separate incident in which it was claimed a child had been killed in a rocket strike on a house near to the airport. It has since emerged this is the same event. 

A security official from the recently deposed government told AFP a house was struck while a source at the Afghan Ministry of Health separately told the BBC the blast was near the airport, with two witnesses informing Reuters a house north of the airport was struck by a rocket. 

There was no official confirmation and no terrorist group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. A US official told CBS: ‘We are confident we hit the target we were aiming for. Initial reports indicate there were no civilian casualties.’

The official added that the drone strike caused ‘significant secondary explosions’ indicating the presence of a substantial amount of explosive material in the vehicle.

Mr Biden had previously warned another terror attack on the airport was imminent after an attack at Kabul airport carried out by ISIS-K – an Islamic extremist group operating in the Central Asian country – killed 13 American service personnel and scores of Afghans.

The Pentagon said a US drone mission in eastern Afghanistan killed two members of the so-called Islamic State group’s Afghanistan affiliate early on Saturday in retaliation for the airport bombing, and Mr Biden said the extremists can expect more. 

The President and First Lady Jill Biden made an unannounced trip to Delaware on Sunday morning for a ceremony to honour the 13, whose remains were flown back to Dover Air Force Base, where fallen troops’ return to American soil is marked by a solemn movement known as the ‘dignified transfer.’ 

In a statement on Saturday, Mr Biden said: ‘The 13 service members that we lost were heroes who made the ultimate sacrifice in service of our highest American ideals and while saving the lives of others.

‘Their bravery and selflessness has enabled more than 117,000 people at risk to reach safety thus far. May God protect our troops and all those standing watch in these dangerous days.’

Some 300 American citizens are still waiting to be evacuated from Afghanistan, Secretary of State Andrew Blinken revealed, as he warned that ‘this is the most dangerous time in an already extraordinarily dangerous mission’.

The withdrawal of US forces allowed the Taliban to regain power after an almost 20-year war. The President’s allies at home and abroad have openly accused Mr Biden of blindsiding them with his rush to exit by August 31 and slammed his bungled handling of the crisis. 

The last British troops stationed in Afghanistan landed in RAF Brize Norton, Oxfordshire this morning. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that Britain’s hasty scuttle was ‘the culmination of a mission unlike anything we’ve seen in our lifetimes’.

The British Ambassador to Kabul, Sir Laurie Bristow, vowed to continue to help UK nationals and Afghans who remain in the country and still need help. 

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan thundered that the US has shown in other countries that it is capable of ‘suppressing the terrorism threat… without a large permanent presence on the ground. And we will do that in Afghanistan as well as we go forward’.    

But untold numbers of vulnerable Afghans, fearful of a return to the brutality of pre-2001 Taliban rule, are likely to be left behind. There also are roughly 280 others who have said they are Americans but have not told the State Department of their plans to leave the country. 

The evacuation of Americans proceeded as tensions rose over the prospect of another IS attack. The State Department issued a new security alert early on Sunday instructing people to leave the airport area immediately ‘due to a specific, credible threat’.

Mr Sullivan said that for those US citizens seeking to leave Afghanistan by Mr Biden’s deadline, ‘we have the capacity to have 300 Americans, which is roughly the number we think are remaining, come to the airport and get on planes in the time that is remaining’.

He added: ‘We moved out more than that number just yesterday. So from our point of view, there is an opportunity right now for American citizens to come, to be admitted to the airport and to be evacuated safely and effectively.’

He also pledged the US ‘will make sure there is safe passage for any American citizen, any legal permanent resident’ after Tuesday, as well as for ‘those Afghans who helped us’.

Taliban promises the UK that Afghans will be allowed ‘safe passage’ to leave after August 31

The UK Government has received assurances from the Taliban that anybody wishing to leave Afghanistan after August 31 will be allowed to do so.

British troops have already left Kabul and US military personnel will be out of Afghanistan before the August 31 deadline set by US President Joe Biden.

But there have been fears over the potentially thousands of Afghans who may have been eligible for resettlement schemes, who could not make it to Kabul airport for evacuation or were not processed in time.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Sunday that if the Taliban regime wanted diplomatic recognition and aid funding, they would have to ensure ‘safe passage’ for those who want to leave.

And in a joint statement with the US and more than 90 other countries, it was confirmed that the Taliban had said anyone who wished to leave the country could do so.

The joint statement said: ‘We have received assurances from the Taliban that all foreign nationals and any Afghan citizen with travel authorisation from our countries will be allowed to proceed in a safe and orderly manner to points of departure and travel outside the country.’

It comes after 15,000 people were evacuated from Afghanistan by UK troops over the course of nearly two weeks in Operation Pitting, which is believed to be the largest evacuation mission since the Second World War.

British ambassador to Afghanistan Sir Laurie Bristow, who had remained in the country and relocated the embassy to Kabul airport to process as many evacuees as possible, arrived back in the UK on Sunday.

He vowed to continue to help British nationals and Afghans who remain in the country and still need help.

Speaking on the runway at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, he said: ‘We’ve had to leave Afghanistan for now and the embassy will operate from Qatar for the time being.

‘We will continue to stand by the people of Afghanistan, working on humanitarian, diplomatic and security work, and above all bringing to the UK Afghans and British nationals who still need our support, and we will be putting pressure on the Taliban to allow safe passage for those people.

‘We will reopen the embassy as soon as we can. We will do everything we can to protect the gains of the last 20 years and above all to help the Afghan people achieve the security and the peace that they deserve.’

Mr Sullivan said the US would continue strikes against IS and consider ‘other operations to go after these guys, to get them and to take them off the battlefield’. 

He added: ‘We will continue to bring the fight to the terrorists in Afghanistan to make sure they do not represent a threat to the United States.’ 

The administration’s plan ‘is not to have an ongoing embassy presence in Afghanistan’, Mr Sullivan said. 

‘But we will have means and mechanisms of having diplomats on the ground there, be able to continue to process out these applicants, be able to facilitate the passage of other people who want to leave Afghanistan.’ 

The US Embassy said: ‘Due to a specific, credible threat, all U.S. citizens in the vicinity of Kabul airport (HKIA), including the South (Airport Circle) gate, the new Ministry of the Interior and the gate near the Panjshir Petrol station on the northwest side of the airport, should leave the airport area immediately.’ 

Before the warning was issued, Mr Biden vowed that his revenge strike for the terror attack is ‘not the last’ and added that the ‘situation on the ground continues to be extremely dangerous.’

Following the announcement, United States Marines were seen escorting children and families through an evacuation centre in Kabul. 

The Taliban condemned the US drone strike, with a spokesman describing the operation as a ‘clear attack on Afghan territory’. ‘The Americans should have informed us before conducting the airstrike,’ spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told Reuters on Saturday.

However, Mujahid later took to Twitter to disavow the interview, writing: ‘Reuters has interviewed me and distorted my words. I urge the media and journalists not to take these words seriously.’ 

Mujahid claimed that two women and a child were wounded in the drone strike. The Pentagon says it is not aware of any civilian casualties. 

The Pentagon earlier confirmed that two ISIS-K targets were killed and one wounded in the drone strike responding to the suicide attack in Kabul, after earlier confirming only one kill. 

The two killed targets were ‘high profile’, but were not senior members of ISIS-K, Army Major Gen. William D. ‘Hank’ Taylor said at a Pentagon briefing on Saturday, saying there were no known civilian casualties. 

The retaliatory strike was launched a day after an ISIS-K suicide bomber blew himself up outside the walls of Kabul airport, killing 13 US troops and scores of Afghan civilians. 

The terror threat at the airport remains ‘very real’ and ‘very dynamic’ Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said on Saturday.

‘Threats are still very real, they’re very dynamic and we are monitoring them literally in real time. And as I said yesterday, we’re taking all the means necessary to make sure we remain focused on that threat stream and doing what we can for force protection,’ Kirby said at a briefing. 

The Pentagon described the two targets killed in the drone strike as a ‘planner’ and ‘facilitator’ of ISIS-K plots who were involved in planning additional future attacks in Kabul, but declined to name them. 

Families evacuated from Kabul, Afghanistan, walk through the terminal before boarding a bus after they arrived at Washington Dulles International Airport, in Chantilly, Va.

Thousands of Afghans have been evacuated to the US from Kabul airport after the Taliban took over the country 

Today the Taliban was said to have offered an assurance that it would allow anyone else wanting to leave safe passage 

A United States Marine with the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit carried a baby as its family passed through the Evacuation Control Center at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul

Soldiers are seen manning an checkpoint at the Kabul airport earlier this week. ‘The situation on the ground continues to be extremely dangerous, and the threat of terrorist attacks on the airport remains high,’ said Biden

Army Major Gen. William D. ‘Hank’ Taylor said at a Pentagon briefing on Saturday that two ISIS-K targets had been killed and one wounded in the drone strike in Afghanistan

Taliban patrols outside the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan on Saturday. The Taliban has now effectively sealed off the airport, and the US Embassy is warning any Americans not to approach the gates

‘No one has any money’: Taliban beat protesters with branches and hurl stones as desperate Afghans gather outside Kabul bank amid cash crisis 

Afghanistan’s banking system is on the verge of collapse, with the country’s banks still closed nearly two weeks after the Taliban seizure of power and leaving many people without access to cash amid fears of an economic and humanitarian disaster.

Images show huge crowds of desperate Afghans queueing outside a bank in Kabul, with reports claiming that locals are getting unruly and are being pelted with stones and beaten with branches by Taliban militants standing guard as the country plunges into chaos.

Sources at the Afghan central bank told CNN that banks remain shuttered days after the Taliban ordered them and other services to reopen because they have virtually run out of cash.

The Afghan economy is heavily reliant on access to foreign currency and international aid, most of which has been blocked since the capital fell to the jihadists in a stunning coup. Grants finance 75 per cent of Afghanistan’s public spending, according to the World Bank.

The development has sparked fears of a severe economic and humanitarian crisis in the Central Asian country, where 47 per cent of households in Afghanistan live in poverty.

‘They lost a planner and they lost a facilitator and got one wounded. The fact that two of these individuals are no longer walking on the face of the Earth, that’s a good thing,’ said Pentagon spokesman John Kirby. 

It was not immediately clear whether the targeted ISIS-K members were directly involved in Thursday’s airport attack. The US military had initially said one person was killed. 

‘They were ISIS-K planners and facilitators and that’s enough reason there alone. I won’t speak to the details of these individuals and what their specific roles might be,’ Kirby said. 

He added: ‘We have the ability and the means to carry over the horizon counterterrorism capabilities and we´re going to defend ourselves.’ 

Kirby declined to say whether all three suspects were intentional targets of the strike, saying: ‘It was a single mission to get these targets and as the assessments and information flowed over time, we were able to recognize that another was killed as well and one wounded.’ 

Another defense official told CNN that the strike on Friday only took place after surveillance on the compound confirmed the target’s wife and children had left. 

Biden authorized the drone strike and it was ordered by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, a defense official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to provide details not yet publicly announced. 

The Pentagon said that 6,800 people had been evacuated from Afghanistan in the past 24 hours, and that 1,400 people are now screened and inside the airport for processing and removal.

Since July, 117,000 people have been evacuated by US and NATO forces, including 5,400 US citizens, said Taylor. 

However, hope for escape is dwindling for anyone not already inside the airport, after the Taliban sealed off access to the airport on Saturday to most Afghans hoping to leave. 

The Pentagon insisted that some gates at the airport remain open and that US passport holders can still get in. 

However, the US Embassy in Kabul issued an urgent alert on Saturday warning citizens not to approach the airport and avoid airport gates.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid condemned the US drone strike on ISIS-K as a ‘clear attack on Afghan territory’ but later disavowed the statement, saying that Reuters had ‘distorted’ his words

‘They lost a planner and they lost a facilitator and got one wounded. The fact that two of these individuals are no longer walking on the face of the Earth, that’s a good thing,’ said Pentagon spokesman John Kirby

The Pentagon said on Saturday that two ISIS-K targets had been killed in the drone strike responding to the suicide attack in Kabul, after earlier confirming only one kill

Afghan families live in a temporary shelter at a park in Kabul, Afghanistan on Saturday after the Taliban sealed off the airport

‘U.S. citizens who are at the Abbey gate, East gate, North gate or the New Ministry of Interior gate now should leave immediately,’ the Embassy said in the alert. 

Mujahid, the Taliban’s main spokesman said on Saturday they would announce a new government for Afghanistan in the coming week. 

He appealed to the United States and other Western nations to maintain diplomatic relations after their withdrawal, which he expected would be completed ‘very soon’. 

There is mounting frustration in Kabul at the severe economic hardship caused by a plummeting currency and rising food prices, with banks still shuttered two weeks after the fall of the city to the Taliban.

Mujahid said officials had already been appointed to run key institutions including the ministries of public health and education and the central bank.

Meanwhile, the US rescue operation is entering in its final hours ahead of President Joe Biden’s Tuesday deadline for withdrawal, and US troops will now shift their focus to the final removal or destruction of equipment and extraction of service members. 

Most NATO nations have now flown out their troops after two decades in Afghanistan, winding down a frantic airlift that Western leaders acknowledged was still leaving many of their citizens and local allies behind.

The United States, which says the round-the-clock flights have evacuated more than 100,000 people since the Taliban claimed Kabul on August 15, was keeping up airlifts ahead of Biden’s Tuesday deadline.

A Taliban militant patrols outside the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Saturday. The airport has now been reportedly sealed off as the evacuation ends

U.S. service members assist with security at an Evacuation Control Check Point (ECC) during an evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport, in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Thursday

Britain also was carrying out its final evacuation flights Saturday, though Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised to ‘shift heaven and earth’ to get more of those at risk from the Taliban to Britain by other means.

Britain’s ambassador to Afghanistan, Laurie Bristow, said in a video from Kabul airport and posted on Twitter that it was ‘time to close this phase of the operation now.’

‘But we haven´t forgotten the people who still need to leave,’ he said. ‘We´ll continue to do everything we can to help them. Nor have we forgotten the brave, decent people of Afghanistan. They deserve to live in peace and security.’

Taliban forces were holding some positions within the airport, ready to peacefully take control as American forces fly out, spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said. 

The Pentagon stressed Friday that the Taliban, who now run Afghanistan, were not in control of any operations at the airport.

A Taliban Badri fighter, a ‘special forces’ unit, stands guard on Humvee vehicle at the main entrance gate of Kabul airport in Kabul on Saturday, following the Taliban stunning military takeover of Afghanistan

Outside the airport, Taliban leaders deployed extra forces Saturday to prevent large crowds from gathering after a devastating suicide attack two days earlier,

New layers of checkpoints sprang up on roads leading to the airport, some manned by uniformed Taliban fighters with Humvees and night-vision goggles captured from Afghan security forces. 

Areas where large crowds had gathered over the past two weeks in the hopes of fleeing the country were largely empty.

A suicide attack Thursday by an Islamic State group affiliate killed 169 Afghans and 13 U.S. service members, and there were concerns that the group, which is far more radical than the Taliban, could strike again. The U.S. military said it killed an IS militant early Saturday in a drone strike, after U.S. President Joe Biden promised swift retaliation.

The president traveled to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on Sunday to receive their remains, with their family members present. 

An Afghan who worked as a translator for the U.S. military said he was with a group of people with permission to leave who tried to reach the airport late Friday. After passing through three checkpoints they were stopped at a fourth. An argument ensued, and the Taliban said they had been told by the Americans to only let U.S. passport-holders through.

‘I am so hopeless for my future,’ the man told The Associated Press after returning to Kabul, speaking on condition of anonymity because of security concerns. ‘If the evacuation is over, what will happen to us?’

People are seen carrying an injured person to a hospital after an attack at Kabul airport on Thursday

Marines secure the airport on Thursday. The rescue operation is now in its final hours ahead of President Joe Biden’s Tuesday deadline

Finnish coalition forces assist evacuees for onward processing during an evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport earlier this week

The Pentagon said Friday that Afghans with the proper documents still were being allowed in.

On Saturday, the Taliban fired warning shots and deployed some kind of colored smoke on a road leading to the airport, sending dozens of people scattering, according to a video circulating online that was consistent with AP reporting.

Afghans, meanwhile, faced economic crises as many Western governments withheld support from Taliban rule.

In Kabul, hundreds of protesters, including many civil servants, gathered outside a bank while countless more lined up at cash machines. They said they hadn’t been paid for three to six months and were unable to withdraw cash. ATM machines were still operating, but withdrawals were limited to about $200 every 24 hours.

Later Saturday, the central bank ordered commercial bank branches to open and allow customers to withdraw $200 per week, calling it a temporary measure.

The economic crisis, which predates the Taliban takeover, could give Western nations leverage as they urge Afghanistan’s new rulers to form a moderate, inclusive government and allow people to leave after Tuesday.

Afghanistan is heavily dependent on international aid, which covered around 75% of the toppled Western-backed government’s budget. The Taliban have said they want good relations with the international community and have promised a more moderate form of Islamic rule than when they last governed the country, but many Afghans are deeply skeptical.

The Taliban cannot access almost any of the central bank´s $9 billion in reserves, most of which is held by the New York Federal Reserve. The International Monetary Fund has also suspended the transfer of some $450 million. Without a regular supply of U.S. dollars, the local currency is at risk of collapse, which could send the price of basic goods soaring.

U.S. Soliders with the 82nd Airborne Division check evacuees during an evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport, in Kabul earlier this week

U.S. Marines with Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force – Crisis Response – Central Command, assist with security at an Evacuation Control Checkpoint (ECC)

A U.S. Marine escorts a young girl at an Evacuation Control Checkpoint (ECC) during an evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport on Wednesday

A U.N. agency warned Saturday that a worsening drought threatens the livelihoods of more than 7 million people. The Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organization said Afghans are also suffering from the coronavirus pandemic and displacement from the recent fighting.

Earlier this month, the U.N. World Food Program estimated that about 14 million people – roughly one out of every three Afghans – urgently needed food assistance.

Biden has said he will adhere to a self-imposed Tuesday deadline for withdrawing all U.S. forces. The Taliban, who control nearly the entire country outside of Kabul’s airport, have rejected any extension.

Italy said its final evacuation flight had landed in Rome but that it would work with the United Nations and countries bordering Afghanistan to continue helping Afghans who had worked with its military contingent to leave the country.

‘Our imperative must be to not abandon the Afghan people,’ especially women and children, Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said Saturday.

The Taliban have encouraged Afghans to stay, pledging amnesty even to those who fought against them. They have said commercial flights will resume after the U.S. withdrawal, but it’s unclear if airlines will be willing to offer service.

The U.S. and its allies have said they will continue providing humanitarian aid through the U.N. and other partners, but any broader engagement – including development assistance – is likely to hinge on whether the Taliban deliver on their promises of more moderate rule.

Taliban fighters beat up a cameraman for the private broadcaster Tolo TV earlier this week in Kabul. Saad Mohseni, the CEO of the group that owns the channel, said the Taliban have been in touch with the station’s management about the incident. He said the fighter has been identified, but it’s unclear if he has faced any disciplinary action. There was no comment from the Taliban. 

PICTURED: All 13 US troops killed by ISIS-K suicide bomber during Kabul airport evacuation

On August 26, 2021, 11 Marines, one Navy corpsman, and one Army staff sergeant were killed in a suicide attack in Kabul that also claimed more than 160 Afghan lives. The US servicemembers were on a mission of mercy to evacuate at-risk Afghans after the disastrous US withdrawal led to a Taliban takeover. These are their stories:

Sgt. Nicole Gee, 23

Marine Sgt. Nicole Gee was was a maintenance technician with 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit from Roseville, California.

A week before she was killed, Gee cradled a baby in her arms at the Kabul airport. She posted the photo on Instagram and wrote, ‘I love my job.’ 

Sgt. Mallory Harrison, who lived with Gee for three years and called her a ‘sister forever’ and best friend, wrote about the magnitude of her loss.

‘I can’t quite describe the feeling I get when I force myself to come back to reality & think about how I´m never going to see her again,’ Harrison wrote on Facebook. ‘How her last breath was taken doing what she loved – helping people. … Then there was an explosion. And just like that, she’s gone.’

Marine Sgt. Nicole Gee, 23, is seen four days before she was killed, escorting Afghans on to a plane in Kabul

Just days before she was killed in the suicide blast, St. Nicole Gee was photographed holding an Afghan baby

Gee, 23, (left and right) of Roseville, California was among those killed in the attack on Thursday in Kabul 

Nicole Gee (left middle), a maintenance technician with 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), awaits the launch of an MV-22B Osprey during an exercise in April

Gee’s Instagram page shows another photo of her in fatigues, holding a rifle next to a line of people walking into the belly of a large transport plane. She wrote: ‘escorting evacuees onto the bird.’

The social media account that includes many selfies after working out at the gym lists her location as California, North Carolina and ‘somewhere overseas.’

Photos show her on a camel in Saudi Arabia, in a bikini on a Greek isle and holding a beer in Spain. One from this month in Kuwait shows her beaming with her meritorious promotion to sergeant.

Harrison said her generation of Marines hears war stories from veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts, but they seem distant amid boring deployments until ‘the peaceful float you were on turns into … your friends never coming home.’

Gee´s car was still parked in a lot at Camp Lejeune and Harrison mused about all the Marines who walked past it while she was overseas.

‘Some of them knew her. Some of them didn´t.’ she said. ‘They all walked past it. The war stories, the losses, the flag-draped coffins, the KIA bracelets & the heartbreak. It´s not so distant anymore.’

Friends mourned Gee (right) whom they called a ‘model Marine’ and a ‘Marine’s Marine’

‘She cared about people. She loved fiercely. She was a light in this dark world. She was my person,’ said friend and fellow Marine Mallory Harrison in a Facebook post on Gee (center right)

‘She cared about people. She loved fiercely. She was a light in this dark world. She was my person,’ said Harrison in a Facebook post. 

‘I find peace knowing that she left this world doing what she loved. She was a Marine’s Marine,’ she said.

‘She was doing God’s work…..a warrior. Searching Afghan women and children trying to get out of country,’ Captain Karen Holliday said in a Facebook tribute.

Holliday called Gee a ‘Model Marine. A leader on the ground in a chaotic situation.’

She said that a photo released of Gee a few days before her death, showing her escorting Afghans onto a waiting plane, had been bombarded with sexist online comments ‘degrading her for being a female Marine.’  

Lance Corporal Dylan Merola, 20

Lance Corporal Dylan Merola, 20

Lance Corporal Merola was a Marine from Rancho Cucamonga, California. 

He was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, based in Camp Pendleton, California. 

The 20-year-old was a graduate of Los Osos High School, according to KABC-TV.

Students honored him at Friday night’s football game by wearing red, white and blue. 

‘Dylan was a beloved son, brother, grandson, great grandson, nephew, a great friend, and a brave soldier,’ said family friend Joseph Matsuoka on a GoFundMe page to raise money for his funeral.

Matsuoka said that Merola ‘paid the ultimate sacrifice at the Abbey Gate at Hamid Karzai International Airport during the evacuation.’ 

Sgt. Johanny Rosario, 25

Marine Sgt. Johanny Rosario, 25

Marine Sgt. Johanny Rosario Pichardo was a Marine sergeant from Lawrence, Massachusetts assigned to 5th Marine Expeditionary Brigade, Naval Support Activity Bahrain.

She was a graduate of Lawrence High School and attended Bridgewater State University. 

On social media, friends issued and outpouring of grief and devastation at Rosario’s death. 

Nastassia Hyatt, a former Marine, recalled Rosario helping her through difficult times in a Facebook post.

‘You brought me back to life. Back to life… back to life….’ Hyatt wrote. ‘I wish i could bring you back to life for just one last hug, one last smile, one last nap, one last meal… one last anything.’

‘She the second half of my heart next to my son. Like she’s everything to me. She is the greatest love I’ve ever known in a human besides my son. This one hit hard,’ Hyatt said. 

‘We are heartbroken by the death of the service men and women due to the bombing in Kabul this week. I and the City of Lawrence are particularly saddened that one of those brave souls was a daughter of our City,’ said Lawrence Mayor Kendrys Vasquez in a statement to WCVB-TV.

The Dominican Republic’s embassy in the United States tweeted that Rosario was originally from that Caribbean nation.

On social media, friends issued and outpouring of grief and devastation at Rosario’s death

Sonia Guzmán, the Dominican Republic´s ambassador to the United States, tweeted that the Dominican community shares in the loss.

‘Peace to your soul!’ she tweeted in Spanish.

Rosario served with the Naval Amphibious Force, Task Force 51/5th Marine Expeditionary Brigade, which praised her efforts as supply chief this spring and thanked her for a job well done.

In Lawrence, Massachusetts, Mayor Kendrys Vasquez said he has been in contact with the family.

‘We are heartbroken by the death of the servicemen and women due to the bombing in Kabul this week,’ he said. ‘I and the city of Lawrence are particularly saddened that one of those brave souls was a daughter of our city.’

The family wishes for privacy ‘and that their loved one be recognized as the hero that she was,’ the mayor said.

Rosario (center) was a Marine sergeant from Lawrence, Massachusetts with the Naval Amphibious Force, Task Force 51/5th Marine Expeditionary Brigade

Melendez said people have strong feelings about the U.S. involvement that’s coming to an end after two decades in Afghanistan.

‘There are people on both sides of the fence. I get it,’ he said. ‘This is about one of our own, a daughter of Lawrence. For us it is definitely about her service and her family´s sacrifice. That´s what will be focusing on.’

‘I have been in touch with the family of the Lawrencian killed in action to extend mine and my family’s most sincere condolences and offer all of the aid that my administration can provide as they grieve this great loss,’ the mayor said.

‘At this time, the family’s most immediate wish is to be given privacy and that their loved one be recognized as the hero that she was.’ 

Hospitalman Maxton Soviak, 20 

Soviak, an Ohio native, joined the Navy after high school and became a hospital corpsman

Maxton William Soviak was a Navy corpsman from New Berlin, Ohio. He was assigned to 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, Camp Pendleton, California

Weeks before his death, he made a tragic Instagram post on June 10, sharing a photo posing with other service members in what is believed to be Afghanistan.

‘It’s kill or be killed, definitely trynna be on the kill side,’ he wrote in a comment on the post. Navy corpsmen often work alongside Marines, who do not have their own medics. 

Soviak’s sister Marilyn said in her own Instagram post that her brother was there to ‘help people’. 

‘My beautiful, intelligent, beat-to-the-sound of his own drum, annoying, charming baby brother was killed yesterday helping to save lives. He was a f***ing medic. There to help people and now he is gone and my family will never be the same,’ she wrote. 

‘He was just a kid. We are sending kids over there to die. Kids with families that now have holes just like ours,’ she added. ‘I’m not one for praying but d**n could those kids over there use some right now. My heart is in pieces and I don’t think they’ll ever fit back right again.’

Soviak was named as a casualty of the attack by his high school in Milan, Ohio, where he graduated in 2017. 

‘It is with deepest sorrow that I am sharing this news,’ Edison Local School District Superintendent Thomas Roth said in a statement. 

‘Max was a good student who was active in sports and other activities throughout his school career. He was well respected and liked by everyone who knew him. Max was full of life in everything he did.’ 

Maxton William Soviak (center), a medic in his early 20s, made this tragic post on June 10, writing ‘It’s kill or be killed, definitely trynna be on the kill side’. Marines Hunter Lopez (left) and Daegan Page (right) were also killed in the attack

Soviak’s sister Marilyn said an Instagram post that her brother was there to ‘help people’

Soviak took pride in his Navy service and worked alongside Marines in Afghanistan

In high school, Soviak was on the honor roll and played football. He was named as a casualty of the attack by his high school in Milan, Ohio

Soviak’s family confirmed his death to local media and have asked for privacy. 

In high school, Soviak was on the honor roll and played football, according to the Sandusky Register. 

Soviak was among the nearly 6,000 US troops now working frantically to evacuate Americans and Afghan refugees from Kabul, with just days remaining before President Joe Biden’s August 31 deadline to withdraw. 

Lance Corporal David Lee Espinoza, 20 

David Lee Espinoza, 20, was one of the Marines killed in the attack

David Lee Espinoza, was a 20-year-old U.S. Marine from Rio Grande, Texas.

His mother, Elizabeth Holguin, said: ‘He was a very good person. He served his country. He helped in any way he could. He was there (in Afghanistan), helping innocent people.’

This was his second deployment; he first made a trip to the Middle East and arrived in Afghanistan for about a week.

Holguin said she was uneasy about him being deployed there.

‘I prayed every day,’ she said.

He is one of four children; he is not married and has no children.

The mom last spoke with him Tuesday.

‘I just told him to be careful, that I was worried about him and I couldn’t wait for him to come back,’ Holguin said. ‘He told me he was fine and not to worry…. He was brave. If he was scared, he didn’t show it.’

She said she holds no animosity toward the president, saying her son ‘wanted to be there.’

Holguin learned her son was dead when she received a phone call Friday at 2.30am.

‘He was just brave enough to go do what he wanted and to help out people. That´s who he was, he was just perfect,’ his mother, Elizabeth Holguin, told the Laredo Morning Times.

In a statement, U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar said Espinoza ’embodied the values of America: grit, dedication, service, and valor. When he joined the military after high school, he did so with the intention of protecting our nation and demonstrating his selfless acts of service.’

Cuellar concluded, ‘The brave never die. Mr. Espinoza is a hero.’

Lance Corporal Rylee McCollum, 20 

Marine Lance Cpl. Rylee McCollum was killed in the attack

Marine Lance Cpl. Rylee McCollum was named by his high school in Wyoming as a casualty in the attack. 

He was expecting to become a father and was pictured with his pregnant wife shortly before deploying to Afghanistan in April.

Cheyenne McCollum, Rylee’s sister, told DailyMail.com her brother had wanted to be a Marine since he was a toddler – and that his own baby is due in just three weeks.

‘Rylee was an amazing, man with a passion for the Marines. He was a son, a brother, a husband and a father with a baby due in just 3 weeks,’ she said.

‘He wanted to be a marine his whole life and carried around his rifle in his diapers and cowboy boots.

‘He was determined to be in infantry and this was his first deployment. Rylee was sent to Afghanistan when the evac began. Rylee was manning the check point when he suicide bomb went off.

‘Rylee wanted to be a history teacher and a wrestling coach when he finished serving his country. He’s a tough, kind, loving kid who made an impact on everyone he met. His joke and wit brought so much joy.

‘To his friends and teammates and coaches, he was family. Rylee will always be a hero not just for the ultimate sacrifice he made for our country but for the way he impacted every life around him for the better. Making us stronger, kinder, teaching us to love deeper. We love you Rylee.’

Rylee McCollum graduated from Summit Innovations School in Jackson in 2019. 

Wyoming Schools Superintendent Jillian Balow said in a statement: ‘Saying that I am grateful for Rylee’s service to our country does not begin to encapsulate the grief and sadness I feel today as a mother and as an American.’ 

‘My heart and prayers are with Rylee’s family, friends, and the entire Jackson community,’ she added.

Rylee McCollum was named by his high school in Wyoming as a casualty in the attack

Rylee McCollum was due to become a father. He is pictured with his pregnant wife, right, shortly before deploying to Afghanistan in April

The Wyoming-born Marine’s wrestling coach and close family friend, Benjamin Arlotta said ‘heads should roll’ over the disastrous US exit and that the young soldier’s family is ‘absolutely broken’.

Arlotta told DailyMail.com that even in diapers McCollum would stand watch on his porch with a toy rifle, first said he wanted to be a Marine aged eight, and signed up on his 18th birthday.

In a glowing eulogy to the young expectant father, whose new baby is due in three weeks, Arlotta described McCollum as a ‘personal hero’ and a ‘fantastic brother, fantastic uncle, and a wonderful friend’.

‘I was his wrestling coach since he was six. He was one of the best. A great kid, a great young man and an American patriot. He loved being a Marine,’ Arlotta said.

‘He was just a good man all around. We’re all hurting pretty bad.

‘It’s impossible. I’m sitting here with the family right now – with his dad and two sisters, his brother-in-law and niece. They’re shattered, they’re absolutely broken. The entire community is.’

Arlotta, 37, said he is furious at the Biden administration and blames the White House for putting soldiers in an unnecessarily dangerous position.

‘It’s a junk show, an absolute junk show. Not just for Rylee but for every serviceman and woman over there. They were put in a very terrible spot. In my opinion this entire circumstance has been mismanaged from every level,’ he told DailyMail.com.

‘The only thing I can hope for is that accountability isn’t forgotten. Because for the 13 men who were killed yesterday, heads need to roll for the way things have gone.

Benjamin Arlotta, and his wife, Talia, are long-time family friends of the McCollums. Benjamin said he is angry and devastated 

‘We’re just seeing the beginning of it. It’s not over, it’s only going to get worse. Everybody in the country needs to be praying for our servicemen and women right now. They have a scrap out in front of them.

‘Sadly those 13 Marines aren’t going to be the last ones to perish because of these terrible decisions that were made.’

Recalling fond memories of the young Jackson Hole native, the wrestling coach told a heartwarming story of McCollum’s determination.

‘When he was 13 he came into the competition season 32lbs heavier than where he wanted to be,’ Arlotta said.

‘He told me he would lose it. We made a bet. I was going to quit chewing tobacco if he could get down there. That was September, by the time the state championship rolled around in January he had made weight.

‘He entered the wrestling tournament at that weight and I quit chewing that day.

‘He was first and foremost a man of his word. If he said he would do something, by goodness gracious he stood right in front of you until he did it.’

McCollum moved to California for training. His pregnant wife Jiennah ‘Gigi’ Crayton lives in the San Diego area.

The 20-year-old lance corporal wanted to be a soldier since childhood, first telling his parents he would join the Marines age eight.

‘We were driving back from his first state wrestling tournament, I was riding with his family,’ said Arlotta. ‘We asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up, he said he wanted to be in the Marines.

‘He enlisted on his 18th birthday,’ the coach added. ‘When he actually enlisted his recruiter told him he could be anything, he could do any job. He swore up and down he wanted to be an infantryman.

‘If you know Rylee, you know you can’t talk him out of a damn thing, so that’s what he did.’

U.S. Congresswoman Liz Cheney, a fellow Wyoming resident, issued a statement when she learned of Rylee’s passing. 

‘I want to offer my deepest condolences to Rylee McCollum’s family and loved ones. His bravery and patriotism will never be forgotten. His willingness to put himself in harm’s way to keep our country safe and defend our freedom represents a level of selflessness and heroism that embodies the best of America. 

‘We know that the McCollum family is grieving this tragic loss. I ask that people in Wyoming and across the country please keep those close to Rylee in their prayers, and remember that we are only free because of the courage and valor of service members like him.’ 

Lance Corporal Jared Schmitz, 20

Marine Lance Corporal Jared Schmitz was a 20-year-old from Wentzville, Missouri

Marine Lance Corporal Jared Schmitz was a 20-year-old from Wentzville, Missouri. 

His father Mark Schmitz told KMOX the Marines notified his family about 2.40am on Friday about his son’s death. 

‘This was something he always wanted to do and I never seen a young man train as hard as he did to be the best soldier he could be,’ Mark Schmitz said.

The grieving father grew emotional as he spoke about his son, welling up with tears.  

‘His life meant so much more. I’m so incredibly devastated that I won’t be able to see the man that he was very quickly growing into becoming.’ 

Mark Schmitz slammed Biden and blamed him for his son’s death. 

‘Be afraid of our leadership or lack thereof. Pray every day for the soldiers that are putting their lives at risk, doing what they love which is protecting all of us,’ Schmitz’s father said.

He added that he was relieved when his son signed up as a Marine when Trump was in office because he ‘really believed this guy didn’t want to send people into harm’s way.’ 

Jared Schmitz was killed in the attack

Lance Corporal Kareem Nikoui, 20

Marine Lance Corporal Kareem Nikoui was a native of Norco, California

Marine Lance Corporal Kareem Nikoui was a native of Norco, California.

Nikoui’s father Steve, a carpenter, vented his frustrations at Biden in an interview with the Daily Beast. 

‘They sent my son over there as a paper pusher and then had the Taliban outside providing security. I blame my own military leaders… Biden turned his back on him. That’s it,’ he said

Steve Nikoui said he knew his son was dead when he saw two Marines approaching his home on Thursday at 7.15pm PST. 

He said he sat with the two emotional Marines, who cried more than he cried, and then had them leave. 

Steve also appeared on Fox with Tucker Carlson on Friday to further criticize Biden in an emotional interview where he said the attack could have been avoided. 

‘From what I saw of the airport that they’re in, looked like a Turkey shoot. It’s funneled in to a single file-type entry point at which if you have in sort of chaos of any sort, they would all like gather to that one funneled area, which they would all be accessed. That’s what happened. It was just basically so chaotic and not really planned out,’ Steve said.

As he teared up, he also said he was upset by how long it took to learn of his son’s death. 

‘How long does it take for the military to, you know, inform the next of kin?’ 

Marine Kareem Nikoui, pictured with his mother, was killed on Thursday. His father said he blames Biden for abandoning them in Kabul

‘I was actually trying to console them. But at the same time, I just wanted them to get out as soon as possible so that no one from my family came back and saw them.

‘I thought it appropriate that I be able to tell them,’ he said.

He added that his son, who was based at Camp Pendleton in California, would often bring other Marines home on the holidays if they couldn’t get back to their own families.

‘My wife and I felt very honored that [since] these other boys weren’t around their homes, that we were able to provide some sort of family life for them. 

‘He really loved that [Marine Corps] family. He was devoted—he was going to make a career out of this, and he wanted to go. No hesitation for him to be called to duty,’ he said.

Speaking outside Kareem’s home on Friday, a relative told DailyMail.com that Kareem’s family were inside signing the documents required to repatriate him. 

He added: ‘They’re totally devastated and they need some time. All the family are here and we’re supporting them.’ 

A steady stream of people have been seen coming and going from the home all day, among them some of Kareem’s colleagues from the Camp Pendleton Marine base in San Diego. 

Steve Nikoui, right, father the late Kareem Nikoui, spoke with Fox’s Tucker Carlson on Friday to condemn the Biden administration’s efforts in Afghanistan that he said led to his son’s death

An American flag flew half-mast outside Norco Intermediate School in honor of Nikoui

Kareem’s mother Shana Chappell posted angrily on social media, blaming Vice-President Kamala Harris for the loss of her son.  

At the social media message of condolence from the Vice-President, she wrote: ‘This c u next Tuesday is a joke! They are the reason my son is dead.’ 

Kareem’s death is also being mourned by his home city of Norco – a small community of 26,000 people nicknamed ‘Horsetown’ that sits 50 miles east of Los Angeles.

Confirming his death, the city released a message of condolence that read: ‘The City of Norco mourns the loss of Norco resident U.S. Marine Corps Lance Corporal Kareem Mae’Lee Grant Nikoui who was killed in action while stationed at the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan on Thursday, August 26, 2021. 

‘The U.S. Marine, who graduated from Norco High School in 2019 and served in JROTC, was committed to serving his country and is survived by his mother, father and siblings.’ 

The city of Norco plans to honor Nikoui by placing his name on the ‘Lest We Forget Wall’ at the George A. Ingalls Veterans Memorial Plaza.

Lance Corporal Hunter Lopez, 22

Marine Lance Corporal Hunter Lopez 

Marine Lance Corporal Hunter Lopez, a native of California’s Coachella Valley and the son of two police officers, was also killed in the attack, Sheriff Chad Bianco confirmed.

‘I am unbelievably saddened and heartbroken for the Lopez family as they grieve over the loss of their American Hero,’ Bianco wrote. 

‘Hunter Lopez, son of our own Captain Herman Lopez and Deputy Alicia Lopez, tragically lost his life while serving our country in the United States Marine Corp. He was killed in Kabul, Afghanistan on Thursday, August 26th,’ the sheriff added.

‘Before joining the Marine Corp, Hunter proudly served in our Sheriff’s Explorer Program. Our entire department is mourning this tragic loss. The Lopez family exemplifies the meaning of Service Above Self.’ 

City of La Quinta issued a statement: ‘Our La Quinta Family is in mourning today with the tragic loss of Hunter Lopez, one of the fallen United States Service Members in the attack in Afghanistan,’

‘Hunter is the son of Captain Herman and Alicia Lopez, both members of the Riverside Sheriff’s Department. Captain Herman Lopez is our Police Chief and Captain over at the Thermal Station,’ the statement added.

‘We are all so humbled by the service and ultimate sacrifice that Hunter gave to protect our country. He was a brave and selfless soldier who answered the call to be a United States Marine. Like his parents, Hunter wanted to help serve others and protect his community.’  

Marine Hunter Lopez, a native of California’s Coachella Valley and the son of two police officers, was also killed, Sheriff Chad Bianco confirmed

‘The Lopez family exemplifies the meaning of Service Above Self,’ said the local sheriff 

‘I am unbelievably saddened and heartbroken for the Lopez family as they grieve over the loss of their American Hero,’ Bianco wrote of Hunter Lopez (above)

Staff Sgt. Taylor Hoover, 31

Marine Staff Sgt. Taylor Hoover, of Salt Lake City, Utah

Marine Staff Sgt. Taylor Hoover, of Salt Lake City, Utah, was another of the service members killed outside the Kabul airport, his family told KSL-TV. 

He was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, California. 

Friends and family mourned his loss, including fellow students who graduated in the Class of 2008 at Hillcrest High School with him in Midvale. 

‘Soooooo glad I got to see him before he left. I love you son!!! You’re my hero!! Please check in on us once in a while. I’ll try to make you proud!!’ Hoover’s father, Darin Hoover, wrote on Facebook.

‘My handsome nephew, Staff Sergeant Taylor Hoover. Taylor spent his entire adult life as a Marine, serving. Doing the hard things that most of us can’t do. He is a hero,’ Jeremy Soto, an uncle, wrote. 

‘We are wounded. We are bruised. We are angry. We are crushed… but we remain faithful. Thank you for your courage nephew. We love you always.’

‘Always a smile. Always respectful. A joy to be around. He is adored beyond measure. The world has lost a true light. Our hearts are broken. Shock, disbelief, horror, sadness, sorrow, anger and grief,’ Brittany Jones Barnett, an aunt, added. 

‘Thank you sweet boy for the ultimate sacrifice. For giving your life for us all. Fighting for freedom and giving absolutely everything you had. You will never ever be forgotten. We love you so much,’ she added. 

Marine Staff Sgt. Taylor Hoover, pictured holding a young family member, died in Kabul

Taylor Hoover, a Utah native, was mourned by his mother Kelly Barnett, left, and girlfriend, Nicole Weiss, right, following his death

‘He is a hero. He gave his life protecting those that can´t protect themselves, doing what he loved serving his country,’ said father Darin Hoover, who lives in a Salt Lake City suburb, in an AP interview.

He said he had heard from Marines who said they were grateful they had his son as their sergeant.

‘They look back on him and say that they´ve learned so much from him,’ Hoover said. ‘One heck of a leader.’

Hoover said his son was also a best friend to his two sisters and loved all his extended family. He had a girlfriend in California and was the kind of guy who ‘lit up a room’ when he came in, his father said.

Hoover, center, was among the Marine troops in Afghanistan to helping with the evacuation 

Hoover pictured in his uniforms, ‘died a hero doing what he always wanted to do and was proud to do, ‘ a family member said

Nate Thompson of Murray, Utah, first met Hoover when they were 10 years old in Little League football. They stayed friends through high school, where Hoover played lineman. He was undersized for the position, but his heart and hard work more than made up for what he lacked in statute, Thompson said. As a friend, he was selfless and kind.

‘If we had trouble with grades, trouble with family or trouble on the field, we always called Taylor. He´s always level-headed, even if he´s struggling himself,’ he said.

U.S. Representative Blake Moore, who represents Utah’s 1st Congressional District, also mourned the loss of Hoover. 

‘We’ll be forever grateful for his sacrifice & legacy. He spent his last moments serving our state & nation, and we’ll never forget his unwavering devotion,’ he wrote in a statement. 

Utah Senator Mike Lee wrote in a statement, ‘Burying a child is a grief no parent should bear. Sharon and I mourn with the Hoover family and with all who loved [Hoover]… who gave the last full measure of devotion in Afghanistan. 

‘He died completing a mission to save his countrymen and civilians from evil and oppression. He lived the Marine Corps motto by living and dying always faithful.’

Utah residents tied fellow ribbons to flags in front of Hoover’s family home

Neighbor Lena McIllece helped arranged the flags to honor Hoover and the other fallen troops

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox ordered that flags be flown at half-staff at all state facilities and public grounds effective immediately until sunset on August. 30 to honor Hoover and all those who died in the recent attack. 

‘We are devastated to hear of the passing of Staff Sgt. Taylor Hoover. Staff Sgt. Hoover served valiantly as a Marine and died serving his fellow countrymen as well as America’s allies in Afghanistan. We honor his tremendous bravery and commitment to his country, even as we condemn the senseless violence that resulted in his death. Abby and I pray for Staff Sgt. Hoover, his family and loved ones during this most difficult time,’ Cox said in a statement.  

A family member told ABC 4 that Hoover, ‘died a hero doing what he always wanted to do and was proud to do, serve his country.  

Staff Sgt. Ryan Knauss, 23 

Army Staff Sgt. Ryan Knauss, 23, was a native of Tennessee

Army Staff Sgt. Ryan Knauss, 23, was a native of Corryton, Tennessee. Knauss was assigned to 9th PSYOP Battalion, 8th PSYOP Group, Ft. Bragg, North Carolina.

He first was identified as one of the victims by his grandfather, Wayne Knauss. 

‘He grew up in a Christian home, attended Berean Christian school through 8th grade and spent, four years at Gibbs High [School],’ said Wayne about his grandson. ‘A motivated young man who loved his country. He was a believer so we will see him again in Gods heaven.’ 

Wayne told ABC 6 that Ryan had served right out of high school for five years with special training in Psychology Operations. 

Ryan’s stepmother, Lianne Knauss, added that Ryan told them he was looking forward to returning to the U.S. and moving to Washington D.C. 

‘He was a super-smart hilarious young man,’ she said. 

Knauss, 23, right, said he wanted to move to Washington D.C. when he returned 

Members of the Knauss family mourned Ryan’s death on social media

U.S. Representative Tim Burchett, a fellow Knoxville resident, also tweeted a tribute to the fallen marine. 

‘Ryan gave his life outside that airport helping people he didn’t know get to safety. This is what true heroism looks like and Ryan’s sacrifice will never be forgotten. The Knauss family is my prayers.’ Burchett wrote 

Diane Trulson Amundson Knauss also urged people to support Wayne and the troops in Afghanistan. 

‘Please pray for our military in Afghanistan and all over the world,’ she wrote. ‘Our hearts ache for Wayne and Neena… and all families.’ 

Corporal Daegan Page, 23 

Marine Corp. Daegan William-Tyeler Page, 23, was a native of Omaha, Nebraska

Marine Corp. Daegan William-Tyeler Page, 23, was a native of Omaha, Nebraska. 

In a statement, Page’s family confirmed that he was one of the slain service members at Kabul airport. 

‘Our hearts are broken, but we are thankful for the friends and family who are surrounding us during this time,’ the family said. 

‘Daegan’s girlfriend Jessica, his mom, dad, step-mom, step-dad, 4 siblings, and grandparents are all mourning the loss of a great son, grandson, and brother.’ 

Page grew up in Omaha and Red Oak, Iowa. He enjoyed playing hockey for Omaha Westside in the local hockey club and was a diehard Chicago Blackhawks fan.

He also oved hunting and spending time outside with his father. 

His family said he was a longtime Boy Scout who was eager to join the U.S. Marine Corps. 

‘Daegan joined the U.S. Marine Corps after graduating from Millard South High School. He loved the brotherhood of the Marines and was proud to serve as a member of the 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California.’  

Corp. Daegan William-Tyeler Page died in the Kabul airport bombing attack

Page, left, was a Marine and member of the 2nd Battalion Marine Regiment

They added that Page was looking forward to coming home to see his family and friends. He also had plans to go to trade school, contemplating a career as a lineman. 

‘Daegan will always be remembered for his tough outer shell and giant heart. Our thoughts and prayers are also with the other Marine and Navy families whose loved ones died alongside Daegan,’ the family said. 

Shana Nicole, a friend of Page, added that ‘the world lost an amazing hero. 

‘My heart hurts for everyone who knew Daegan. He was so so kind always,’ she wrote on Facebook. 

The Omaha, Nebraska, native was looking forward to returning home, his family said 

Page, center, hoped to reunite with friends back home and go to trade school

Page, third from the left, rear, was drawn to the sense of brotherhood within the Marine Corps 

U.S. Congressman Jeff Fortenberry, who represents Page’s home district, also issued a statement mourning the loss of the young marine. 

‘I was just notified about the death of Marine Corporal Page. My heart was already broken over our country’s loss of 13 service members in Afghanistan. Now the loss is even harder,’ Fortenberry said. 

‘God bless Corporal Page. He saved lives and served his country honorably. His life was cut short but had ultimate meaning. By his bravery and will, many others will have a chance. I send my heartfelt condolences to his family.’ 

Corporal Humberto Sanchez, 22 

Marine Corp. Humberto Sanchez was among those killed

Officials in Indiana confirmed that Corp. Humberto Sanchez was also among the dead.

Sanchez graduated from Logansport High School in 2017. He also attended Columbia Elementary.

‘Like many, I have been heartbroken over the recent loss of the 13 U.S. service members who were murdered in the terrorist attacks against our evacuation efforts in Kabul, Afghanistan,’ Logansport Mayor Chris Martin said in a statement on Facebook.

‘Even more heartbreaking is learning the news today that one of those killed was from right here at home in Logansport, Indiana.

‘This young man had not yet even turned 30 and still had his entire life ahead of him. Any plans he may have had for his post-military life were given in sacrifice due to the heart he exhibited in putting himself into harm’s way to safeguard the lives of others.’

Adrian Gazcon, a friend, also wrote a tribute on Twitter for Sanchez, saying that ‘it hurts that he’s gone.’ ‘Thank you for your service, you’re a hero bro.’  

Sanchez pictured carrying friend Rhiannon Rickerd while attending Logansport High School

A friend posted a tribute to Sanchez when he learned about his death

‘A mission unlike anything we’ve seen in our lifetimes’: Boris Johnson praises UK troops as they land in UK on last flight out of Kabul – but PM says Britain ‘will return’ amid strain on Biden relationship after 150 Brits and 1,000 Afghans were left behind

By JACK WRIGHT, CHRIS JEWERS and ROSS IBBETSON for MAILONLINE

Boris Johnson has described Britain’s hasty scuttle from Afghanistan as ‘the culmination of a mission unlike anything we’ve seen in our lifetimes’ as the last British troops landed in RAF Brize Norton this morning, bringing our two decades of involvement in the country to an end. 

In a video clip uploaded to Twitter on Sunday, the Prime Minister said: ‘UK troops and officials have worked around the clock to a remorseless deadline in harrowing conditions. They have expended all the patience and care and thought they possess to help people in fear for their lives.

‘They’ve seen at first-hand barbaric terrorist attacks on the queues of people they were trying to comfort, as well as on our American friends. They didn’t flinch. They kept calm. They got on with the job. It’s thanks to their colossal exertions that this country has now processed, checked, vetted and airlifted more than 15,000 people to safety in less than two weeks.’  

The final British troops and diplomatic staff were airlifted from Kabul on Saturday, drawing to a close Britain’s 20-year engagement in Afghanistan and a two-week operation to rescue trapped British nationals and Afghan allies who assisted us during our intervention.

A Voyager aircraft touched down at RAF Brize Norton airfield in Oxfordshire this morning, with roughly 250 personnel on board including members of 16 Air Assault Brigade who were stationed at Kabul airport. The plane flew in from Al Minhad airfield in the United Arab Emirates near Dubai where the UK’s evacuation flights from Afghanistan first landed.

British Ambassador to Afghanistan Sir Laurie Bristow, who had been processing those fleeing the country at Hamid Karzai International Airport until the last moment, was among those who landed at RAF Brize Norton base. Further flights carrying personnel are expected later on Sunday.

Speaking on the runway, Sir Laurie vowed to continue to help British nationals and Afghans who remain in the country and still need help. He also said: ‘It’s been an extraordinary, intense effort by the Foreign Office, the military and Border Force together to bring over 15,000 people to safety in under two weeks.’ 

As images from inside military aircraft were shared online by The Parachute Regiment and the Ministry of Defence last night showing exhausted British troops leaving Kabul, the Prime Minister pledged to return to war-torn Afghanistan when it is safe to do so. 

Operation Pitting, the largest UK military evacuation since the Second World War, airlifted more than 15,000 people in a fortnight on more than 100 RAF flights. It included 5,000 British nationals and their families and more than 8,000 Afghan former UK staff and their relatives. 

However, 150 British nationals and more than 1,000 Afghans who assisted British forces during the intervention have been left behind. Government sources insisted Britain’s absence from the war-ravaged country was only temporary.

Ambassador to Afghanistan Sir Laurie Bristow exits a plane after being evacuated from Kabul

Members of the British armed forces 16 Air Assault Brigade walk to the air terminal after departing a flight from Afghanistan at RAF Brize Norton, Oxfordshire

Members of the British armed forces and diplomatic staff arrive on a flight from Afghanistan at RAF Brize Norton, west of London on August 29, 2021

Members of the British armed forces 16 Air Assault Brigade disembark an aircraft after being evacuated from Kabul

Britain’s Ambassador to Afghanistan, Laurie Bristow is greeted by Philip Barton, Permanent Under-Secretary of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, after disembarking a Royal Air Force Voyager at RAF Brize Norton

Members of the British armed forces 16 Air Assault Brigade disembark a flight from Afghanistan at RAF Brize Norton, in Oxfordshire

Boris Johnson has described Britain’s hasty scuttle from Afghanistan as ‘the culmination of a mission unlike anything we’ve seen in our lifetimes’

Members of the British armed forces 16 Air Assault Brigade depart a flight from Afghanistan at RAF Brize Norton, Oxfordshire

In this handout photo provided by the Ministry of Defence, UK military personnel onboard a A400M aircraft departing Kabul, Afghanistan, Saturday, August 28, 2021

Kabul animal rescuer Pen Farthing is accused of ‘costing lives’ as recording reveals his foul-mouthed rant threatening to ‘f***ing destroy’ an MoD official in the middle of Afghanistan airlift 

A former Royal Marine who founded an animal shelter in Kabul ‘cost lives’ as a result of his mission to evacuate 173 cats and dogs from Afghanistan, senior defence sources said last night.

Pen Farthing, who flew back to the UK last night with his menagerie of animals rescued by the Nowzad charity, has also been accused of ‘bullying’ British Government officials.

A leaked voice message obtained by The Mail on Sunday has revealed the behind-the-scenes bitterness over the airlift, with Mr Farthing telling an Ministry of Defence official that he would ‘spend the rest of my time f****** destroying’ him if he did not secure clearance for a flight out of the country.

The official, Peter Quentin, an adviser to Defence Secretary Ben Wallace, is understood to have also received death threats from supporters of Mr Farthing as a result of his involvement in the animal rescue.

On the recording, which was shared by officials as part of an investigation into the alleged threats, Mr Farthing can be heard demanding ‘an ISAF number’ – a military callsign which has not been in use since 2014 – for a charter plane to take him, his animals and staff out of the Afghan capital.

Mr Farthing’s publicity campaign has angered the MoD because of the distraction it has provided from the ‘core mission’ of airlifting refugees. 

A defence source said: ‘This selfish charade has cost lives.’ Another source said the MoD’s help to evacuate animals meant ‘this is the first British Government explicitly committed to the idea of non-white people as equivalent to animals since the abolition of slavery.’

Yesterday, senior Tory MP and former soldier Tom Tugendhat issued a withering condemnation of the way MoD resources had been used for the animal evacuation.

Mr Tugendhat, who served in Afghanistan, revealed how his former interpreter, who is now stuck in Kabul, asked him: ‘Why is my five-year-old worth less than your dog?

‘I didn’t have an answer,’ he says.

The MP, who is chairman of the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, told LBC: ‘People have been focusing on the aeroplanes. It’s not the aeroplanes that are the problem. There’s quite a lot of space on the aeroplanes. 

They are coming and going relatively easily. The difficulty is getting people into and out of the airport.

‘And we have just used a lot of troops to bring in 200 dogs. Meanwhile, my interpreter’s family are likely to be killed. We run an NHS in the UK that taxes us all about one in seven pounds we spend. What would you say if I sent an ambulance to save my dog rather than to save your mother?’

US President Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw his forces by the end of the month left Mr Johnson with no alternative but to follow suit – putting the so-called ‘special relationship’ under strain and prompting angry Tory MPs to question Mr Biden’s suitability for the White House. 

Yesterday, Mr Biden said that another attack on the Kabul airport could be imminent, while vowing that his revenge strike for an ISIS-K attack that killed 13 US troops is ‘not the last’. 

As the US military rushes into the final evacuation of Kabul airport ahead of Mr Biden’s Tuesday deadline for withdrawal, the President defended his drone strike, which the Pentagon said killed two ISIS-K ‘planners and facilitators’ in response to the deadly suicide bomb attack. 

The Taliban condemned the US drone strike, with a spokesman describing the operation as a ‘clear attack on Afghan territory’.

Around 2,200 children were evacuated, the youngest just a day old. Afghan ‘sleeper’ agents who fed intelligence to MI6, including information about the suicide bomb attack at Kabul airport last week, have also been whisked to safety. 

In a bid to put a positive gloss on the withdrawal, the Prime Minister vowed to ‘use all the diplomatic and humanitarian tools at our disposal to preserve the gains of the last 20 years’. 

Addressing the families and loved ones of the British troops who ‘gave their all’, Mr Johnson said: ‘Your suffering and your hardship were not in vain.’ He added: ‘It was no accident that there’s been no terrorist attack launched against Britain or any other western country from Afghanistan in the last 20 years.

‘It was thanks to the bravery of our Armed Forces who fought to knock out (Osama) Bin Laden’s networks. Thanks to the devotion of British troops and aid workers and diplomats and others, we’ve helped educate 3.6 million girls. Whatever the future may hold for Afghanistan, they will have that gift for the rest of their lives, a gift they will pass on to their daughters as well as their sons.’

Speaking at RAF Brize Norton, Vice-Admiral Ben Key, Chief of Joint Operations, who commands Operation Pitting, said: ‘Although the United Kingdom’s Operation Pitting finishes today, of course the United States are still engaged in their own withdrawal and I would be very nervous in saying we had completed a successful withdrawal from Afghanistan until all our allies and partners have returned.

‘The United States has provided the framework for security in Kabul as part of a huge international effort and so operations continue even if the UK’s particular contribution concludes today.’

On the fact that not everyone eligible for evacuation from Kabul could be rescued, he said: ‘That is both true and a matter of great sadness for all of us that have been involved in this.

‘Whilst we recognise and I pay testament to the achievement of everything that has been achieved by coalition forces, but particularly the British contingent, over the last two weeks, in the end we know that there are some really sad stories of people who have desperately tried to leave that we have – no matter how hard our efforts – we have been unsuccessful in evacuating.’

Vice-Admiral Key added: ‘There has been a phenomenal effort achieved in the last two weeks. And I think we always knew that somewhere we would fall just short.

‘So, this isn’t a moment of celebration for us at all, this is a moment to mark a tremendous international effort to evacuate as many people as we could in the time available.

‘That sense of sadness that we haven’t done all we would have wished and we will continue to work … in the future with the next leadership of Afghanistan, with the Taliban, and others to make sure those who would wish to come back to his country continue to have an opportunity to do so.

‘Sadly, we have just not been able to evacuate them under this framework.’

Speaking to the PA news agency, Vice-Admiral Key said pictures from the airlifts showed UK service personnel were ‘deeply tired’ having ‘given their all over the last two weeks’.

He said: ‘Some of the pictures that have come back in the last few days have painted a really good impression of just how desperate and difficult those conditions have been in the last few weeks.

‘The pictures of them sitting in the aircraft coming back, these are deeply tired people who have given of their all over the last two weeks. They have travelled with very little equipment – we didn’t allow them to carry much kit – and in many cases they have lived in the clothes they have been wearing for many days.

‘They have been sleeping in rough conditions, eating off ration packs and their sole motivation has been to help as many of the Afghans and British entitled personnel as they possibly could.

‘We will do all in our power to give the Afghan people the future they deserve’: UK’s ambassador Laurie Bristow promises to help those left behind as he arrives in UK on last flight out of Kabul 

The British Ambassador to Afghanistan has vowed to help British nationals and Afghan translators who assisted our troops during the intervention now stuck in Kabul and ‘do everything’ to ‘help the Afghan people achieve the security and the peace that they deserve’.

In a video message on Twitter, Sir Laurie Bristow, who had been processing those fleeing the country at Hamid Karzai International Airport until the last moment, said the British diplomatic mission to Afghanistan will operate from Qatar as the country fell to the Taliban. 

Speaking on the runway at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire this morning as the last British plane from Kabul landed, he said: ‘This is Laurie Bristow. The team touched down at Brize Norton a few moments ago. It’s been an extraordinary, intense effort by the Foreign Office, the military and Border Force together to bring over 15,000 people to safety in under two weeks.

‘We’ve had to leave Afghanistan for now and the embassy will operate from Qatar for the time being. We will continue to stand by the people of Afghanistan, working on humanitarian, diplomatic and security work, and above all bringing to the UK Afghans and British nationals who still need our support, and we will be putting pressure on the Taliban to allow safe passage for those people.

‘We will reopen the embassy as soon as we can. We will do everything we can to protect the gains of the last 20 years and above all to help the Afghan people achieve the security and the peace that they deserve.’

‘It’s been a combination of deep professionalism, considerable courage, really sophisticated judgment and, on occasion, huge compassion, and it’s been difficult for those of us back here not to just have the most enormous admiration for what they’ve done and how they’ve gone about it.’

Vice-Admiral Key continued: ‘Am I optimistic for the future? I think I watch with interest. I am hopeful the investment we have made will grow into greater things, but I don’t think there’s any of us would say the last 20 years have not been worth it.’

On the evacuation effort, he said: ‘Of course we would have liked (more time) because then we could have brought more people out.

‘It would have allowed us to pull in those people who we know were still trying to get across from the city to the airport.

‘It would have given us a chance to really make sure we had reached out to those who had helped us so wonderfully and courageously over the last 20 years.

‘But the truth is no more time was granted to us by the Taliban, who were very clear that by the end of August not only had the evacuation had to be completed but we, the western militaries, had all withdrawn as well.

‘I don’t think there is a single person deployed forward, whether the thousand or so in Kabul or the many hundreds of others drawn across from Her Majesty’s Government in the Middle East or back here, who could have given more in the last two, two-and-a-half, weeks.

‘The effort has been, frankly, truly humbling to see hours worked with exhaustion painted on people’s faces, so we tried our best, we have absolutely tried our best.’

Sir Laurie said: ‘It’s time to close this phase of the operation now, but we haven’t forgotten the people who still need to leave.’

A former head of the British Army has said it was ‘unfathomable why it would appear that the Government was asleep on watch’ in relation to the protection of Afghans who helped soldiers and officials.

Speaking on Times Radio, General Lord Richard Dannatt said: ‘On the particular issue of those who we knew were in danger, people who had worked for us, interpreters, former locally-engaged civilians, this issue has been in the media.

‘This issue has been on politicians’ desks for two to three years and, certainly, it’s been there during the course of this year.

‘I mean, you might remember, back in July, 45 senior officers wrote to the Government, an open letter to the Government, saying there are people we are concerned about and if we don’t do the right thing, their blood will be on our hands. It is unfathomable why it would appear that the Government was asleep on watch.

‘I think the issue of Afghanistan sat on the backburner. Maybe it started to come forward. But then, suddenly, when the Taliban took over the country in the precipitate fashion in which they did, it fell off the cooker straight onto the kitchen floor and we’ve … had this chaotic extraction.

‘We should have done better, we could have done better. It absolutely behoves us to find out why the Government didn’t spark up faster.’

Conservative MP and veteran Tobias Ellwood said the UK had ‘very little to show’ for 20 years in Afghanistan. The chairman of the Commons Defence Select Committee told LBC: ‘Our armed forces performed so valiantly but they were let down by their political masters.

‘We lacked the strategy, the statecraft, the patience to see through, and the manner of our departure is a humiliation, a confirmation of our diminished resolve, and our adversaries will not be slow to exploit it.’

He warned that ‘terrorism will raise its ugly face again’ and ‘until we defeat this ideology, we can have as many drone strikes as we like, we can invade as many countries as we like, we will never win’.

Mr Ellwood added: ‘Unfortunately, we’ve made the situation worse, by absenting ourselves from the very place where it’s now very easy for terrorist groups to do their work.’

The last Afghan evacuee saved by British troops: Paras helped interpreter climb over fence in final mission launched by MoD officials angry that Pen Farthing’s pets had been saved while people remained stranded 

British troops helped the last Afghan evacuee climb over a barbed wire fence into Kabul airport, it has been revealed today.

The rescue of Sayed – along with his wife, their three-month-old baby and three-year-old son – came as officials complained Pen Farthing’s pets had been saved while interpreters remained stranded.

Sayed, a 32-year-old interpreter who was blown up while working for the UK in 2011, became the last person who served along-side British forces to be allowed inside Kabul airport and processed for a flight to the UK, The Sunday Times reported.

The rescue of Sayed and his family was ordered by senior figures inside the Ministry of Defence (MoD) after the gates to the airport were closed to new arrivals.

Before his escape, the Afghan father had spent more than four days trying to find a way to the airport’s Abbey Gate where British troops were clearing those who were eligible for sanctuary in the UK.

Despite being part of the crowd ordered to leave by the Taliban, who now control Kabul and most of Afghanistan following their take-over this month, Sayed told the newspaper that he stood his ground refusing to give up hope.

 The interpreter stood in the baking sun for hours wading through sewage, all while holding his young daughter, but after reaching the correct gate he was not called forward.

MoD officials – frustrated that Mr Farthing’s animals were being saved while Afghans loyal to Britain were set to be left behind – picked up Sayed’s case.

Despite the gates to the airport officially being closed to prepare for the final evacuation flights from Kabul, British troops were ordered to find him.

On Friday night, Sayed received a call from a British interpreter to take a taxi to the airport and once again go to the gate.

He said he had to walk 30 minutes after the taxi ride to reach the gate, where he found that there was another large crowd.

Sayed was once again called by the interpreter, who told him to leave the crowd and signalled him with a light.

‘When I reached the light the British forces took me and my family over the barbed wire. It was amazing, I am happy now,’ he told The Sunday Times. ‘I thank everyone who worked hard for my family.’

Sayed worked with UK forces for three years. He was given permission to come to the UK months ago, but his baby was born before the flight meaning officials required more paperwork.

Mr Johnson said: ‘Twenty years ago, in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, the first British soldier set foot on Afghan soil aiming to create a brighter future for the country and all its people. The departure of the last British soldiers from the country is a moment to reflect on everything we have sacrificed and everything we have achieved in the last two decades.

‘The nature of our engagement in Afghanistan may have changed, but our goals for the country have not. We will now use all the diplomatic and humanitarian tools at our disposal to preserve the gains of the last 20 years and give the Afghan people the future they deserve.’ 

The final flight from Kabul marks the end of a fraught period for Mr Johnson’s administration. Footage purporting to show British troops inside a military aircraft as it left Kabul was last night posted on social media.

Despite the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan, a Government source insisted: ‘We intend to re-establish our diplomatic presence in Kabul as soon as the security and political situation in the country allows and are co-ordinating this effort with allies.’

By yesterday afternoon, the number of Afghans brought to the UK had reached 10,000 – double the number anticipated, with the UK evacuating more people than any country apart from the US.     

Video and pictures from inside military aircraft shared online by The Parachute Regiment on Saturday showed British troops leaving the Afghan capital.

The Ministry of Defence, which also later released its own images, told the MailOnline that soldiers were in the process of being withdrawn.

The footage, along with pictures of British solders on military aircraft, was shared by the official Twitter account of The Parachute Regiment on Saturday at 12:25pm GMT (16:55pm in Afghanistan). 

The video showed smiling soldiers sitting on the floor of the aircraft listening to ‘Ride of the Valkyries’, while the pictures – taken in the dark – showed troops sitting and facing the front of the aircraft.  

Thousands of refugees have been unable to get to the Taliban-guarded airport or are too fearful to do so for the constant threat of terrorism. On Thursday, an ISIS suicide bomber killed at least 170 people, including 13 U.S. soldiers, two Britons and the child of a UK national outside the airport walls. 

Meanwhile, it was reported that the Taliban had sealed off Kabul’s airport to most Afghans hoping for evacuation, as most Nato nations flew out their troops after two decades in Afghanistan, winding down a frantic airlift that Western leaders acknowledged was still leaving many of their citizens and local allies behind.

The Pentagon announced yesterday it carried out a retaliatory drone strike that killed two ISIS ‘planners and facilitators’ and wounded another militant in Nangahar province, eastern Afghanistan. 

Washington described them as ‘high profile ISIS targets’ but would not specify their roles in the airport bombing.   

U.S. troops now face a ‘very difficult’ few days acting as the ‘rear guard’ to the withdrawal, he added.  It has also emerged that British troops helped the last Afghan evacuee climb over a barbed wire fence into Kabul airport, it has been revealed today.

The rescue of Sayed – along with his wife, their three-month-old baby and three-year-old son – came as officials complained Pen Farthing’s pets had been saved while interpreters remained stranded.

Sayed, a 32-year-old interpreter who was blown up while working for the UK in 2011, became the last person who served along-side British forces to be allowed inside Kabul airport and processed for a flight to the UK, The Sunday Times reported.

The rescue of Sayed and his family was ordered by senior figures inside the Ministry of Defence (MoD) after the gates to the airport were closed to new arrivals.

Before his escape, the Afghan father had spent more than four days trying to find a way to the airport’s Abbey Gate where British troops were clearing those who were eligible for sanctuary in the UK.

Despite being part of the crowd ordered to leave by the Taliban, who now control Kabul and most of Afghanistan following their take-over this month, Sayed told the newspaper that he stood his ground refusing to give up hope.

The interpreter stood in the baking sun for hours wading through sewage, all while holding his young daughter, but after reaching the correct gate he was not called forward.

After Thursday evening’s suicide bombing that killed an estimated 170 people, he and his family were forced to give up hope and return to their home.

Speaking earlier this week, Sayed had said that it hurt that his name was not called at the gate after working for Britain as an interpreter. 

Pictured: Taliban Badri fighters, a ‘special forces’ unit equipped with US gear, stand guard as Afghan wait at the main entrance gate of Kabul airport on Friday

Pictured: Two Taliban fighters patrol in Kabul, Afghanistan on Saturday, August 28 as operations by foreign countries to get their citizens out of the country come to an end

Pictured: Five Taliban fighters carrying weapons ride in the back of a truck as they patrol Kabul on August 28, 2021

Taliban members stand guard at a checkpoint around Hamid Karzai International Airport, the centre of evacuation efforts from Afghanistan since the Taliban took over, after yesterday’s explosion in Kabul, Afghanistan on August 28, 2021. The picture shows a U.S. military Humvee that has been seized by the Taliban

Pictured: The aftermath of Thursday’s suicide bombing, which killed 170 people including three Britons and 13 U.S. soldiers

Afghan woman gives birth on evacuation flight to UK

Cradles in a red airline blanket, this little girl was born at 33,000ft while on an evacuation flight to the UK yesterday.

Her Afghan mother, Soman Noori, was on the flight from Dubai to Birmingham – having previously left Kabul – when she went into labour.

There was no doctor on board, forcing the Turkish Airlines cabin crew to deliver the baby girl in airspace over Kuwait. She has been named Havva, which translates to Eve in English.

Havva is the third child of Ms Noori, 26, and her 30-year-old husband, Taj Moh Hammat. Turkish Airlines said mother and baby were healthy, and although the plane landed in Kuwait as a precaution, it continued on its route to Birmingham and landed at 11.45am.

Video footage shows Havva sleeping in her mother’s arms before being cooed over by cabin crew.

Ms Noori is not the first woman to give birth while fleeing Afghanistan after the Taliban returned to power.

An unnamed woman gave birth last week on a US military plane that had just landed in Germany. She named her Reach, after the aircraft’s call sign.

Pictured: Air crew hold baby Havva who was born on an evacuation flight destined for Birmingham

‘I always put my life in danger to save British troops because we were living as brothers,’ he said, according to The Sunday Times. ‘But now that we need them the most, no one will hear us.’

During the time in which Sayed was trying to escape the capital via the airport, former British Marine Paul ‘Pen’ Farthing’s campaign to put pressure on officials to allow him to fly to Britain with over 180 rescue animals succeeded.

While gaining huge support, the campaign led by the founder of the Nowzad animal shelter was also accused of taking up resources that could have been used to evacuate more people from Kabul.

MoD officials – frustrated that Mr Farthing’s animals were being saved while Afghans loyal to Britain were set to be left behind – picked up Sayed’s case.

Despite the gates to the airport officially being closed to prepare for the final evacuation flights from Kabul, British troops were ordered to find him.

On Friday night, Sayed received a call from a British interpreter to take a taxi to the airport and once again go to the gate. He said he had to walk 30 minutes after the taxi ride to reach the gate, where he found that there was another large crowd.

Sayed was once again called by the interpreter, who told him to leave the crowd and signalled him with a light.

‘When I reached the light the British forces took me and my family over the barbed wire. It was amazing, I am happy now,’ he told The Sunday Times. ‘I thank everyone who worked hard for my family.’ 

Sayed worked with UK forces for three years. He was given permission to come to the UK months ago, but his baby was born before the flight meaning officials required more paperwork.

As the Taliban swept across the country and seized Kabul, the family’s passports were with the British embassy, leading to further delays.

But after a 100-hour battle to get him out of the capital before it became impossible, Sayed and his family are on their way to start a new life in the UK.

‘I think our American allies are going to be very challenged because the threat from ISIS-K has not gone away and of course there are still lots of desperate Afghans trying to get out,’ Sir Nick said.    

General Sir Richard Barrons warned that ISIS now posed a threat which reached beyond Afghanistan to the UK. 

‘What [the suicide bombing] does do is illustrate that Isis-K is a risk to the United Kingdom, here at home, and to our interests abroad,’ the general said.

‘We’re going to find common cause with the US, and indeed I think the Taliban, in bearing down on this terrible organisation for as long as it takes to neuter them.’  

The MoD said last night that 14,543 people had now been extracted from Kabul since August 13, a mix of Afghan and British nationals, and that now the focus would turn to getting diplomats and service personnel out. 

Some 8,000 of those were Afghans and their families under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (Arap) scheme, which applies to those who helped the UK and are at risk of persecution by the Taliban. 

Tory MP and Afghan veteran Tom Tugenhadt said people should ‘forget’ about getting to Kabul and attempting to fly from the airport, due to the numerous dangerous checkpoints that have been installed along the motorways.

He told BBC Breakfast: ‘Forget about getting to Kabul. You know there’s 10 checkpoints between them on the motorway, let alone down the motorway, all the way to Kabul.

‘You can absolutely forget about trying to get to the airport because every one of those checkpoints has a danger point where Taliban or indeed affiliated groups, drug dealers or just simply bandits could murder, and certainly have, been murdering various people.’

The chairman of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee added: ‘I’m extremely sad about this and I very much hope that it might go beyond the August deadline but we found out a few days ago that it wasn’t, so I was expecting it.

‘It still leaves me extremely sad that so many of my friends have been left behind.’

Questioned over whether the UK could have done better when withdrawing personnel from Afghanistan, Mr Tugendhat said: ‘In the last week, probably not, but this has been a sprint finish after a not exactly sprint start.’

‘There are going to be questions to be asked to the Foreign Secretary about the processing in the UK in recent weeks that we’re going to have to see what the answers are.’ 

Afghans boarding an Italian plane at 3pm on Friday, the C-130J jet took off from Kabul with the last 58 Afghan citizens on board who were due to arrive in Italy at the Fiumicino airport early Saturday

Afghan civilians in Italian military planes (left and right) on Saturday. They will be among the last to leave as the Tuesday deadline looms

Afghan evacuees queue before boarding one of the last Italy’s military aircraft C130J during evacuation at Kabul airport on Friday

British troops from 16 Air Assault Brigade walk off the runway after arriving back at RAF Brize Norton on Saturday

Taliban leaders hold a celebratory summit in Lashkar Gah, Helmand province, on Saturday to mark their victory

Pictured: Afghan people wait to enter Pakistan through Chaman border crossing in Chaman, Pakistan on August 28, 2021

Pictured: Afghan people wait to enter Pakistan through Chaman border crossing in Chaman, Pakistan on August 28, 2021

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace previously admitted there were between 800 and 1,100 Afghans eligible under the Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy (Arap) scheme who would be left behind, while around 100 and 150 UK nationals will remain in Afghanistan, although Mr Wallace said some of those were staying willingly.

But a number of MPs have said that based on the correspondence they had received asking for help, they thought this was an underestimation.

Shadow defence secretary John Healey said: ‘This is the brutal truth, despite getting more than 14,000 people out, there are probably 1,000 Afghans who have worked with us over two decades in Afghanistan, helped our troops, our aid workers, our diplomats, that we promised to protect, but we’re leaving behind.

‘And I know those troops in particular will feel our failure on this as a country is a betrayal of many of those who risked their own lives to work alongside us.

‘And I think what’s important now is that we may be giving up the airport, but we cannot give up on the Afghan people or fighting to try and protect the gains that they and our troops and our diplomats and aid workers have worked so hard over two decades to gain in Afghanistan.’ 

Mr Johnson has admitted he felt a ‘great sense of regret’ about the many hundreds that UK forces had been unable to evacuate from Kabul. 

Tom Tugendhat, the chair of the Foreign Affairs committee, said the fact people would be left behind filled him with ‘anger and shame’ and warned ‘we may find ourselves with the biggest hostage crisis the UK has ever seen.’ 

‘Quite rightly, British citizens and entitled persons are literally in fear of their lives right now.’

The former Army Lieutenant Colonel is one of a growing number of MPs from across the political spectrum to have accused the Government of ‘failing’ in its mission to keep Afghan staff safe by not completing the evacuations.

Mr Tugendhat added: ‘Defeat means you don’t get a say… we have just been defeated, we have no influence over Kabul anymore.’  

Displaced families living in tents in Kabul. The advance of the Taliban across the country has forced thousands to flee their homes – many had headed for the relative safety of the capital only for it also to fall

Pictured: Afghan collaborators, their families, Spanish soldiers and members of the embassy board a Spanish military plane as part of their evacuation, at the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, August 27, 2021

Pictured: An Afghan man hands his child to a British Paratrooper assigned to 2nd Battalion, Parachute Regiment while a member of 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division conducts security at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, Aug 26, 2021

British troops were seen securing the perimeter outside the Baron Hotel, near the Abbey Gate in Kabul on Thursday following the bombing

Pictured left: Muhammad Niazi, a British Afghan who travelled there from London to help his family. Pictured right: One of Mr Niazi’s daughters. As of last night, his wife, youngest child and eldest daughter were still missing, according to the broadcaster, with his brother and survivor of the blast – Abdul Hamid – saying ‘I saw some children in the river’

ISIS-K, short for ISIS Khorasan Province, are believed to be operating in the east of Afghanistan on the border with Pakistan

And security sources said they feared that elements of the Taliban or Isis-K could capture vulnerable Afghans or UK citizens and demand a ransom. 

Prime Minister Boris Johnson spoke of his ‘great sense of regret’ at those left behind. He said: ‘Of course, as we come down to the final hours of the operation there will sadly be people who haven’t got through, people who might qualify.

‘What I would say to them is that we will shift heaven and earth to help them get out, we will do whatever we can in the second phase.’   

One of the victims of Thursday’s Kabul suicide bombing has been named as Muhammad Niazi, a British Afghan who travelled there from London to help his family at the airport, according to the BBC.

As of last night, his wife, youngest child and eldest daughter were still missing, with his brother and survivor of the blast, Abdul Hamid, telling the broadcaster: ‘I saw some small children in the river, it was so bad. It was doomsday for us.’  

According to The Daily Telegraph, Mr Niazi was a taxi driver from Aldershot who travelled to Afghanistan to rescue his family as the Taliban bore down on the city, and chaos led to scenes of mass panic at the airport. 

It is feared that his wife and two of their daughters were also caught up in the bombing, and possibly killed, and the couple’s other daughter and only son are understood to have been severely injured, the newspaper reported.

He is understood to have flown from Heathrow to Azerbaijan, before travelling to Afghanistan in an attempt to take his family to safety.

Imran Naizi, a friend and member of the same mosque as Muhammad Niazi (of no relation), told The Telegraph that the Afghan community and Aldershot are mourning the loss of a dedicated family man. 

Another 1,000 ‘could’ve been saved if Dominic Raab cut his holiday short’: Up to 9,000 left behind in Kabul as it emerges Foreign Secretary didn’t make a single phone call to Afghan or Pakistani ministers in the six MONTHS before the crisis

By JACK WRIGHT for MAILONLINE

A furious blame game over the Afghanistan crisis has broken out in Whitehall, with Ministers claiming that Dominic Raab’s decision to stay on holiday in the Mediterranean as Kabul fell to the Taliban meant that up to 1,000 people have not been evacuated who otherwise would have been. 

Cabinet Ministers and Whitehall officials have accused the Foreign Office of negligence in preparing escape routes out of war-torn Afghanistan and claimed that up to 9,000 people who could have been eligible for evacuation would be left trapped there.

The Sunday Times reports that the Foreign Secretary did not make a single phone call to the Afghan or Pakistani Foreign Ministers in the six months before the Taliban coup because he ‘thought Afghanistan was yesterday’s war and the Government was totally focused on Brexit’.

Mr Raab has faced calls to resign after allegedly defying orders from Downing Street to cut his holiday short by two days before returning to London while Kabul fell to the jihadists. Instead, he was accused of topping up his tan at the Amirandes Hotel in Crete, a five-star resort which boasts its own private beach and ‘one of the biggest pools you’ll ever see,’ according to its website. 

Anyone who gets to a third country and qualifies for the resettlement scheme for Afghan former British staff will be offered a free flight to the UK. However, the neighbouring countries of Pakistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan are reluctant to provide free passage for refugees. 

One Minister told the paper: ‘The Foreign Office failed to roll the pitch with these countries for months. The PM wanted third countries involved and Raab did nothing. Boris is exasperated that the Foreign Office has not done what he told them. They also took their people out and that cost us several days. 

‘I suspect we could have taken out 800 to 1,000 more people if they had not done that.’ 

Operation Pitting, the largest UK military evacuation since the Second World War, airlifted more than 15,000 people in a fortnight on more than 100 RAF flights. It included 5,000 British nationals and their families and more than 8,000 Afghan former UK staff and their relatives. 

However, some 150 British nationals and more than 1,000 Afghans who assisted British forces during the intervention have been left behind. Government sources insisted Britain’s absence from the war-ravaged country was only temporary. 

Labour has accused Government ministers of being ‘missing in action’ during the Afghanistan crisis, with leader Sir Keir Starmer raging: ‘The complacency and incompetence of this Government has been exposed yet again and with tragic consequences.’ 

Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab visit The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office Crisis Centre at the Foreign Offices on August 27, 2021 in London

Mr Raab has faced calls to resign after allegedly defying orders from Downing Street to cut his holiday short by two days before returning to London while Kabul fell to the jihadists. Instead, he was accused of topping up his tan at the Amirandes Hotel in Crete

A US Marine with the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit checks an Afghan woman as she goes through the Evacuation Control Center during an evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport

Taliban fighters patrol in Kabul, Afghanistan

Members of the British armed forces 16 Air Assault Brigade depart a flight from Afghanistan at RAF Brize Norton, Oxfordshire

The luxury Crete hotel where Dominic Raab ‘was staying as Taliban went on the rampage in Afghanistan’ 

It styles itself as a ‘sparkling boutique resort for the privileged and perceptive’

It styles itself as a ‘sparkling boutique resort for the privileged and perceptive’.

But after Dominic Raab admitted being ‘caught off-guard’ by the Taliban rampage, the luxury Crete hotel where he apparently stayed last week may wish to rethink the final word of its boast.

Mr Raab was spotted at the five-star Amirandes Hotel

Mr Raab was spotted at the five-star Amirandes Hotel, just before he jetted back into Britain to help deal with what has been described as the biggest foreign policy disaster since Suez.

The Amirandes, which is situated on its own private beach, says it has ‘a first-class dining scene and one of the biggest pools you’ll ever see’ – and is said to be ‘inspired by the palaces of Minoan kings’. 

The Amirandes, which is situated on its own private beach, says it has ‘a first-class dining scene’

A senior Pakistani official told the Sunday Times that Mr Raab had shown no interest in talking to Islamabad in the months before the takeover because ‘he just didn’t care’. ‘He thought Afghanistan was yesterday’s war and the Government was totally focused on Brexit,’ the official added.

It is understood that Mr Raab had spoken twice to the Pakistani Foreign Minister, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, on August 22 and again on Friday – but he apparently did not have earlier conversations.

Responsibility for speaking to the Afghan Foreign Minister was delegated to Lord Ahmad, the Minister for South Asia. However, earlier reports alleged that Lord Ahmad was on leave when the Taliban marched into Kabul. 

A Foreign Office spokesman told MailOnline: ‘We have been working tirelessly to evacuate over 15,000 people from Afghanistan in the last two weeks. We deployed a 24/7 cross-Whitehall team based in our crisis hub to triage incoming emails and calls from British Nationals, ARAP applicants, and other vulnerable Afghans.

‘We always cautioned that the nature of the security situation in Afghanistan and our responsibility to keep our people safe meant that we would not be able to evacuate everyone we wanted to. Our efforts have now turned to doing everything we can to help any remaining British nationals and the Afghans who supported us leave Afghanistan safely.’ 

Sir Keir slammed the Government’s handling of the crisis, adding: ‘We’ve known for 18 months that this moment was coming. It is unconscionable that there was no strategy in place to get all the British nationals and Afghans we owed a debt to out. 

‘I pay tribute to all the FCDO staff and military personnel who have, as ever, stepped up when their leaders have failed them.

‘The fact that so many emails have simply gone unopened is not the fault of civil servants but of government ministers who have been missing in action during this whole crisis. MPs and their staff have been hearing harrowing stories from so many people we should have taken care of but who have been abandoned to the Taliban.’

Labour MPs tweeted about the efforts their staff had gone to collate the information to send to officials. Sir Keir added: ‘Can the Government tell us how many of the people in those emails got out, or more importantly haven’t who were eligible to?

‘We need urgent answers from the Prime Minister on what will be done to ensure the safety of those left behind, on proper support for MPs to be able to do their job and on new leadership at the Foreign Office. 

‘Serious times call for serious leadership and this Government simply isn’t up to the job.’

Boris Johnson has described Britain’s hasty scuttle from Afghanistan as ‘the culmination of a mission unlike anything we’ve seen in our lifetimes’ as the last remaining British troops leave Kabul, bringing our two decades of military involvement in the country to an end.

In a video clip uploaded to Twitter on Sunday, the Prime Minister said: ‘UK troops and officials have worked around the clock to a remorseless deadline in harrowing conditions. They have expended all the patience and care and thought they possess to help people in fear for their lives.

‘They’ve seen at first-hand barbaric terrorist attacks on the queues of people they were trying to comfort, as well as on our American friends. They didn’t flinch. They kept calm. They got on with the job. It’s thanks to their colossal exertions that this country has now processed, checked, vetted and airlifted more than 15,000 people to safety in less than two weeks.’   

As images from inside military aircraft were shared online by The Parachute Regiment and the Ministry of Defence last night showing exhausted British troops leaving Kabul, Mr Johnson pledged to return to Afghanistan when it is safe to do so. 

In a bid to put a positive gloss on Britain’s departure, the Prime Minister vowed to ‘use all the diplomatic and humanitarian tools at our disposal to preserve the gains of the last 20 years’. 

Addressing the families and loved ones of the British troops who ‘gave their all’, Mr Johnson said: ‘Your suffering and your hardship were not in vain.’ He added: ‘It was no accident that there’s been no terrorist attack launched against Britain or any other western country from Afghanistan in the last 20 years.

‘It was thanks to the bravery of our Armed Forces who fought to knock out (Osama) Bin Laden’s networks. Thanks to the devotion of British troops and aid workers and diplomats and others, we’ve helped educate 3.6 million girls.

‘Whatever the future may hold for Afghanistan, they will have that gift for the rest of their lives, a gift they will pass on to their daughters as well as their sons.’ 

US President Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw his forces by the end of the month left Mr Johnson with no alternative but to follow suit – putting the so-called ‘special relationship’ under strain and prompting angry Tory MPs to question Mr Biden’s suitability for the White House. 

Yesterday, Mr Biden said that another attack on the Kabul airport could be imminent, while vowing that his revenge strike for an ISIS-K attack that killed 13 US troops is ‘not the last.’ 

‘The situation on the ground continues to be extremely dangerous, and the threat of terrorist attacks on the airport remains high. Our commanders informed me that an attack is highly likely in the next 24-36 hours,’ the President said in a statement on Saturday. 

A Taliban Badri fighter, a ‘special forces’ unit, stands guard as Afghans hoping to leave Afghanistan wait at the main entrance gate of Kabul airport in Kabul

Internally displaced Afghan families live in a temporary shelter at a park in Kabul, Afghanistan

US Marines with the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit process evacuees as they go through the Evacuation Control Center during an evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport

UK military personnel onboard a A400M aircraft departing Kabul, Afghanistan

‘A mission unlike anything we’ve seen in our lifetimes’: Boris Johnson praises UK troops as they land in UK on last flight out of Kabul – but PM says Britain ‘will return’ amid strain on Biden relationship after 150 Brits and 1,000 Afghans were left behind 

Boris Johnson has described Britain’s hasty scuttle from Afghanistan as ‘the culmination of a mission unlike anything we’ve seen in our lifetimes’ as the last British troops landed in RAF Brize Norton this morning, bringing out two decades of involvement in the country to an end. 

In a video clip uploaded to Twitter on Sunday, the Prime Minister said: ‘UK troops and officials have worked around the clock to a remorseless deadline in harrowing conditions. They have expended all the patience and care and thought they possess to help people in fear for their lives.

‘They’ve seen at first-hand barbaric terrorist attacks on the queues of people they were trying to comfort, as well as on our American friends. They didn’t flinch. They kept calm. They got on with the job. It’s thanks to their colossal exertions that this country has now processed, checked, vetted and airlifted more than 15,000 people to safety in less than two weeks.’  

The final British troops and diplomatic staff were airlifted from Kabul on Saturday, drawing to a close Britain’s 20-year engagement in Afghanistan and a two-week operation to rescue trapped British nationals and Afghan allies who assisted us during our intervention.

British Ambassador to Afghanistan Sir Laurie Bristow, who had been processing those fleeing the country at Hamid Karzai International Airport until the last moment, was among those who landed at RAF Brize Norton base in Oxfordshire this morning. 

As the US military rushes into the final evacuation of Kabul airport ahead of Mr Biden’s Tuesday deadline for withdrawal, the President defended his drone strike, which the Pentagon said killed two ISIS-K ‘planners and facilitators’ in response to the deadly suicide bomb attack.

‘I said we would go after the group responsible for the attack on our troops and innocent civilians in Kabul, and we have. This strike was not the last. We will continue to hunt down any person involved in that heinous attack and make them pay,’ Mr Biden said in the written statement.

The Taliban condemned the US drone strike, with a spokesman describing the operation as a ‘clear attack on Afghan territory’.

Around 2,200 children were evacuated, the youngest just a day old.  Afghan ‘sleeper’ agents who fed intelligence to MI6, including information about the suicide bomb attack at Kabul airport last week, have also been whisked to safety.   

Speaking at RAF Brize Norton, Vice-Admiral Ben Key, Chief of Joint Operations, who commands Operation Pitting, said: ‘Although the United Kingdom’s Operation Pitting finishes today, of course the United States are still engaged in their own withdrawal and I would be very nervous in saying we had completed a successful withdrawal from Afghanistan until all our allies and partners have returned.

‘The United States has provided the framework for security in Kabul as part of a huge international effort and so operations continue even if the UK’s particular contribution concludes today.’

On the fact that not everyone eligible for evacuation from Kabul could be rescued, he said: ‘That is both true and a matter of great sadness for all of us that have been involved in this.

‘Whilst we recognise and I pay testament to the achievement of everything that has been achieved by coalition forces, but particularly the British contingent, over the last two weeks, in the end we know that there are some really sad stories of people who have desperately tried to leave that we have – no matter how hard our efforts – we have been unsuccessful in evacuating.’

Vice-Admiral Key added: ‘There has been a phenomenal effort achieved in the last two weeks. And I think we always knew that somewhere we would fall just short.

‘So, this isn’t a moment of celebration for us at all, this is a moment to mark a tremendous international effort to evacuate as many people as we could in the time available.

‘That sense of sadness that we haven’t done all we would have wished and we will continue to work … in the future with the next leadership of Afghanistan, with the Taliban, and others to make sure those who would wish to come back to his country continue to have an opportunity to do so.

‘Sadly, we have just not been able to evacuate them under this framework.’

Speaking to the PA news agency, Vice-Admiral Key said pictures from the airlifts showed UK service personnel were ‘deeply tired’ having ‘given their all over the last two weeks’.

He said: ‘Some of the pictures that have come back in the last few days have painted a really good impression of just how desperate and difficult those conditions have been in the last few weeks.

‘The pictures of them sitting in the aircraft coming back, these are deeply tired people who have given of their all over the last two weeks. They have travelled with very little equipment – we didn’t allow them to carry much kit – and in many cases they have lived in the clothes they have been wearing for many days.

‘They have been sleeping in rough conditions, eating off ration packs and their sole motivation has been to help as many of the Afghans and British entitled personnel as they possibly could. 

Ambassador to Afghanistan Sir Laurie Bristow exits a plane after being evacuated from Kabul upon its arrival at RAF Brize Norton base in Oxfordshire

Members of the British armed forces 16 Air Assault Brigade walk to the air terminal after departing a flight from Afghanistan at RAF Brize Norton, Oxfordshire

Pen Farthing lands at Heathrow with his dogs and cats on a private charter plane from Kabul before ‘jetting to Oslo to reunite with his wife’ – but the animals ‘could be destroyed if they’re riddled with disease’ 

An ex-Royal Marine who founded an animal rescue charity in Kabul landed at London Heathrow with his cats and dogs on a private charter plane from Afghanistan early this morning and immediately took a connecting flight to Norway to visit his wife, it has been claimed.

Pen Farthing flew back to the UK last night with his menagerie of animals rescued by the Nowzad charity. The 57-year-old’s chartered jet from Pakistan landed in Kabul at around 6pm local time and stopped off in Muscat before making its journey to Heathrow Airport.

The ex-Commando then took a connecting flight to Oslo to see his wife Kaisa Markhus, who fled Afghanistan last week in the chaos which gripped the Central Asian country following the Taliban seizure of power, according to airport security and officials on the ground.

Nearly 200 cats and dogs airlifted from Kabul are now thought to be in quarantine as per UK law. However, they could be put down if they have disease, with Whitehall officials calling the situation like Geronimo the alpaca – who is destruction after testing positive for Bovine TB – ‘on speed’. 

Mr Farthing’s controversial publicity campaign to pressure the British Government to get his staff and animals out of the Afghan capital following the Taliban coup gained huge public support and helped the ex-Royal Marine to raise enough money to charter a private plane. 

But it has also led to accusations that the ex-Commando took up resources that could have been used to evacuate more people from Kabul.

‘It’s been a combination of deep professionalism, considerable courage, really sophisticated judgment and, on occasion, huge compassion, and it’s been difficult for those of us back here not to just have the most enormous admiration for what they’ve done and how they’ve gone about it.’ 

Vice-Admiral Key continued: ‘Am I optimistic for the future? I think I watch with interest. I am hopeful the investment we have made will grow into greater things, but I don’t think there’s any of us would say the last 20 years have not been worth it.’

On the evacuation effort, he said: ‘Of course we would have liked (more time) because then we could have brought more people out.

‘It would have allowed us to pull in those people who we know were still trying to get across from the city to the airport.

‘It would have given us a chance to really make sure we had reached out to those who had helped us so wonderfully and courageously over the last 20 years.

‘But the truth is no more time was granted to us by the Taliban, who were very clear that by the end of August not only had the evacuation had to be completed but we, the western militaries, had all withdrawn as well.

‘I don’t think there is a single person deployed forward, whether the thousand or so in Kabul or the many hundreds of others drawn across from Her Majesty’s Government in the Middle East or back here, who could have given more in the last two, two-and-a-half, weeks.

‘The effort has been, frankly, truly humbling to see hours worked with exhaustion painted on people’s faces, so we tried our best, we have absolutely tried our best.’

Sir Laurie said: ‘It’s time to close this phase of the operation now, but we haven’t forgotten the people who still need to leave.’

A former head of the British Army has said it was ‘unfathomable why it would appear that the Government was asleep on watch’ in relation to the protection of Afghans who helped soldiers and officials.

Speaking on Times Radio, General Lord Richard Dannatt said: ‘On the particular issue of those who we knew were in danger, people who had worked for us, interpreters, former locally-engaged civilians, this issue has been in the media.

‘This issue has been on politicians’ desks for two to three years and, certainly, it’s been there during the course of this year.

‘I mean, you might remember, back in July, 45 senior officers wrote to the Government, an open letter to the Government, saying there are people we are concerned about and if we don’t do the right thing, their blood will be on our hands. It is unfathomable why it would appear that the Government was asleep on watch.

‘I think the issue of Afghanistan sat on the backburner. Maybe it started to come forward. But then, suddenly, when the Taliban took over the country in the precipitate fashion in which they did, it fell off the cooker straight onto the kitchen floor and we’ve … had this chaotic extraction.

‘We should have done better, we could have done better. It absolutely behoves us to find out why the Government didn’t spark up faster.’

Conservative MP and veteran Tobias Ellwood said the UK had ‘very little to show’ for 20 years in Afghanistan. The chairman of the Commons Defence Select Committee told LBC: ‘Our armed forces performed so valiantly but they were let down by their political masters.

‘We lacked the strategy, the statecraft, the patience to see through, and the manner of our departure is a humiliation, a confirmation of our diminished resolve, and our adversaries will not be slow to exploit it.’

He warned that ‘terrorism will raise its ugly face again’ and ‘until we defeat this ideology, we can have as many drone strikes as we like, we can invade as many countries as we like, we will never win’Mr Ellwood added: ‘Unfortunately, we’ve made the situation worse, by absenting ourselves from the very place where it’s now very easy for terrorist groups to do their work.’

Kabul animal rescuer Pen Farthing is accused of ‘costing lives’ as recording reveals his foul-mouthed rant threatening to ‘f***ing destroy’ an MoD official in the middle of Afghanistan airlift

By GLEN OWEN, POLITICAL EDITOR for the MAIL ON SUNDAY  

A former Royal Marine who founded an animal shelter in Kabul ‘cost lives’ as a result of his mission to evacuate 173 cats and dogs from Afghanistan, senior defence sources said last night.

Pen Farthing, who flew back to the UK last night with his menagerie of animals rescued by the Nowzad charity, has also been accused of ‘bullying’ British Government officials.

A leaked voice message obtained by The Mail on Sunday has revealed the behind-the-scenes bitterness over the airlift, with Mr Farthing telling an Ministry of Defence official that he would ‘spend the rest of my time f****** destroying’ him if he did not secure clearance for a flight out of the country.

The official, Peter Quentin, an adviser to Defence Secretary Ben Wallace, is understood to have also received death threats from supporters of Mr Farthing as a result of his involvement in the animal rescue.

On the recording, which was shared by officials as part of an investigation into the alleged threats, Mr Farthing can be heard demanding ‘an ISAF number’ – a military callsign which has not been in use since 2014 – for a charter plane to take him, his animals and staff out of the Afghan capital.

Pen Farthing (pictured), who flew back to the UK last night with his menagerie of animals rescued by the Nowzad charity, has also been accused of ‘bullying’ British Government officials

 Another source said the MoD’s help to evacuate animals (pictured) meant ‘this is the first British Government explicitly committed to the idea of non-white people as equivalent to animals since the abolition of slavery’

Mr Farthing, who served 22 years in the military, accuses Mr Quentin of ‘blocking’ his efforts to leave the country, saying: ‘Here’s the deal buddy. You either get me that f****** ISAF number and you get me permission to get on that f****** airfield or tomorrow morning I am going to turn on you. The whole f****** country… is going to know that it is you.’

During the two-minute rant, Mr Farthing also says: ‘I served for 22 years for the Royal Marine Commandos. I am not going to take this b******* from people like you.’

Friends of Mr Quentin, who denies trying to block a flight, say he was particularly incensed by the ‘people like you’ line as he has also operated in Afghanistan – learning Dari in the process – and returned several times to conduct research and write a book on the conflict.

They also maintain that Mr Quentin had been personally helping with the evacuation of Afghans and to ensure Nowzad staff were on the evacuation list.

Mr Farthing’s publicity campaign has angered the MoD because of the distraction it has provided from the ‘core mission’ of airlifting refugees. 

A defence source said: ‘This selfish charade has cost lives.’ Another source said the MoD’s help to evacuate animals meant ‘this is the first British Government explicitly committed to the idea of non-white people as equivalent to animals since the abolition of slavery.’

Yesterday, senior Tory MP and former soldier Tom Tugendhat issued a withering condemnation of the way MoD resources had been used for the animal evacuation.

Mr Tugendhat, who served in Afghanistan, revealed how his former interpreter, who is now stuck in Kabul, asked him: ‘Why is my five-year-old worth less than your dog?

‘I didn’t have an answer,’ he says.

The MP, who is chairman of the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, told LBC: ‘People have been focusing on the aeroplanes. It’s not the aeroplanes that are the problem. There’s quite a lot of space on the aeroplanes. 

They are coming and going relatively easily. The difficulty is getting people into and out of the airport.

‘And we have just used a lot of troops to bring in 200 dogs. Meanwhile, my interpreter’s family are likely to be killed. We run an NHS in the UK that taxes us all about one in seven pounds we spend. What would you say if I sent an ambulance to save my dog rather than to save your mother?’

Mr Farthing’s flight left without charity staff who were prevented from entering the military-controlled area at Kabul airport, despite having been granted visas for the UK. 

They had helped to bring the pets to the airport in two cattle trucks. Mr Farthing said armed Taliban militants stopped the Afghan staff from crossing into the British-controlled zone where they could board the privately chartered flight to the UK.

Speaking about his staff members, Mr Farthing, whose real name is Paul, said: ‘It is just so depressing that I had to leave them behind. Some of them came with me to the airport but they weren’t allowed to cross the line from Taliban to British control.

‘I feel so many things. I feel very sad for them, I’m relieved for me and I feel happy for the animals. There were lots of tears when we said goodbye.’

Carrie Johnson’s close friend Nimco Ali made a thinly veiled attack on Mr Farthing on Friday.

In response to a story posted on Twitter by the BBC which told how he said he ‘went through hell’ to reach Kabul airport only to be turned away, the activist wrote: ‘So have countless Afghans. But we don’t know their names and they might never get out.’

Reports had suggested that animal-lover Mrs Johnson had used her influence to lobby for Mr Farthing’s cause, but the Prime Minister firmly denied such claims.

Mr Quentin declined to comment last night and when the MoS contacted Mr Farthing’s wife, Kaisa, about the outburst, she also declined to comment.  

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