Afghans failed by UK were left behind and killed by Taliban

A whistleblower claims Afghans were left behind and killed by the Taliban. Also, UK officials had a “lack of interest” in evacuating Afghans.

Mr Raab, the then Foreign Secretary, allegedly demanded all cases to be set out “in a well-presented table” before he could make decisions, evidence shows. He is allegedly accused of taking “several hours” to respond to urgent cases.

Raphael Marshall, at the time, worked for the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) in the middle of the evacuation effort. He claims that Afghans failed by the UK and Mr Raab’s demands suggested “he did not fully understand the situation”.

The foreign Affairs Committee inquiry into the withdrawal from Afghanistan is using Mr Marshall’s comments in their investgations.

When the Taliban took control in August, Mr Raab was on holiday in Crete. Raab claims that he spoke to ministers in Afghanistan and Pakistan months ahead of the evacuation crisis.

But Mr Marshall claims “at one point officials wanted to cancel the evacuation operation as there was a lack of coordination between the FCDO and the Ministry of Defence”.

In his evidence, the whistleblower claims junior officials were “scared by being asked to make hundreds of life and death decisions about which they knew nothing”. He estimates “around 75,000 and 150,000 including children applied for evacuation to the Afghan Special Cases team this summer”. But “fewer than five per cent of those people received any assistance”, adding “it is clear that some of those Afghans failed by the UK have since been murdered by the Taliban”.

“The evacuation has been described as a success by some, but these allegations point to a very different story – one of lack of interest, and bureaucracy over humanity.” Too many Afghans were failed by the UK

A Government spokesperson said: “UK Government staff worked tirelessly to evacuate more than 15,000 people from Afghanistan within a fortnight.

“This was the biggest mission of its kind in generations and the second-largest evacuation carried out by any country. We are still working to help others leave.

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