Markus Andrews

Dominic Raab was on Wednesday facing his toughest interrogation yet on his missteps in the Afghanistan crisis, as a former foreign secretary questioned his role in allowing the development of a “distant” relationship with Washington which allowed the UK to be blindsided over the abrupt pullout of US troops.Ahead of the beleaguered Raab’s appearance at an emergency meeting of the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, Jack Straw told The Independent that the failure of Joe Biden’s administration to warn the UK of its planned withdrawal of military forces would never have happened under the Blair and Brown governments in which he served.And Labour’s shadow foreign secretary Lisa Nandy said Mr Raab was responsible for “the biggest foreign policy failing in a generation” and must resign if he was unable to tell MPs in the 90-minute grilling how he intended to put it right.Defence secretary Ben Wallace last night described as a “Dunkirk by WhatsApp” the effort to assist up to 300 Afghans who worked for the UK military but missed out on evacuation with around 700 dependents before the final Western troops left Kabul airport on Monday.Speaking privately by conference call to MPs, Mr Wallace said Ministry of Defence officials have been instructed to use phone calls and electronic messages to get into one-to-one contact with as many of the Afghans as possible to help them flee to sanctuary in the UK. Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove has been appointed to chair a cross-government working group to over see the drive.But Mr Wallace acknowledged that – as with Dunkirk – much of the assistance being offered to the desperate former UK employees is coming independently of government, often from members of the forces community with links to Afghanistan.One backbencher on the conference call told The Independent that Mr Wallace faced “exasperation” from MPs who said that the government appeared to be “flying by the seat of its pants”. One MP demanded rapid confirmation on whether individuals whose cases they raise are in fact be entitled to come to the UK, in order to avoid advising them to make the perilous journey to neighbouring countries like Pakistan only for them to be turned down.Downing Street confirmed that “surge staff” are being sent to Pakistan and other neighbours like Tajikistan or Uzbekistan to process claims for asylum in the UK, either in embassies or at border sites where refugees are flooding out of Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.And No 10 confirmed comments from the head of the RAF, Air Chief Marshal Sir Mike Wigston, who said that the UK was ready to use air-strikes to target the Isis-K terror group – an Afghan offshoot of Islamic State – in the country.“We always reserve the right to exercise lawful self-defence and we never rule that out in relation to terror groups,” said Boris Johnson’s official spokesperson.The spokesperson said the prime minister continued to have “full confidence” in the foreign secretary, after reports suggested he was “toast” in the next cabinet reshuffle following his decision to remain on holiday until after Kabul fell to insurgents and claims that he failed to make a key phone call which could have helped more people escape.Mr Raab on Tuesday flatly denied that the UK pressured US troops to keep open a gate open at Kabul airport where a suicide bombing claimed by Isis-K killed more than 170 Afghan civilians and 13 US troops.Leaked notes obtained by the Politico website suggested that US commanders planned to close Abbey Gate by Thursday afternoon amid intelligence of an imminent terror attack, but kept it open for longer to allow Britain to continue its own evacuation effort.But the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “It’s simply not true to suggest that we pushed to keep the gate open.“In response to the change in travel advice ahead of the attack last week, the UK moved operations out of the Baron Hotel.”Asked about the state of transatlantic relations, he said: “The US continues to be our strongest ally.”Downing Street said on Tuesday that the Prime Minister had left on Sunday for a four-day trip to the West Country with his family and would not return to No 10 until Thursday.His official spokesman insisted that Mr Johnson was “continuing to work”, with Britons and Afghans remaining stranded after the withdrawal of forces from Kabul.Ahead of today’s hearing of the cross-party foreign affairs committee, Mr Straw told The Independent that the foreign secretary would have to explain how the UK had been caught off guard by the sudden US withdrawal.“Something like the withdrawal from Afghanistan, where plainly we had huge equity involved, ought not to have been just presented to us as a fait accompli,” said the former Labour minister, who was closely involved as foreign secretary in diplomatic preparations for the intervention in Afghanistan following the 9/11 attacks 20 years ago.“It appears to me that the relationship with the US has become more distant and that is not good for the UK. I don’t think it would have happened in that way when Tony Blair was PM.” But another former foreign secretary, Sir Malcolm Rifkind, said that while Washington’s failure to forewarn its Nato allies was “unfortunate”, the rows over Afghanistan would not permanently damage relations.“To suggest that Biden is like Trump in his treatment of Nato allies is absurd,” the Conservative former foreign secretary said. “Trump made a virtue of trying to split the alliance, Biden doesn’t take that view. He has made clear he is totally committed to Nato and I don’t think anything he has done is in conflict with that.”Ms Nandy said: “This has been the biggest foreign policy failing in a generation.“The foreign secretary had 18 months to prepare but was missing in action. As a result, on his watch Britain has become weaker in the world and faces greater risks from terrorism. We had to send our troops into real danger and, despite their heroic actions, thousands of Afghans who supported us over two decades are still at serious risk and British citizens abandoned.“This is a government characterised by complacency and indifference, trying to shift the blame in a crisis instead of rolling up their sleeves. These are serious times that demand serious leadership. The buck stops with the Foreign Secretary. He must take responsibility today for what has been a catalogue of errors and poor judgment, come clean about those failings and set out a plan to set this right. If he can’t do that, he is not fit to hold office and he must resign.” More

The government’s expert advisers on vaccination are resisting intense political pressure to give the go-ahead for Covid jabs for all Britain’s teenagers because of fears it could disrupt the programme of boosters for vulnerable older people, The Independent has learnt.The development came amid ever louder demands to protect those aged 12 to 15, with headteachers’ representatives calling for a decision “sooner rather than later” as schools return across England and Wales after the summer holidays.The MHRA medicines regulator has already cleared the Pfizer and Moderna jabs for those aged 12 and over on safety grounds, but the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation has the responsibility to consider the wider question of how the rollout of vaccines will have the greatest positive impact across society as a whole.A person close to the JCVI told The Independent that there is “a need to consider how to prioritise boosters for vulnerable groups and a campaign for that, along with getting people to have their second doses before trying to launch a schools programme”.There is likely to be an increase in cases from the close contact of children within schools, but given that the vaccines are effective at stopping hospitalisation, but less so at stopping transmission, it was a complex decision to decide to vaccinate younger children who were less likely to become severely ill from Covid-19, they added.Health secretary Sajid Javid said on Saturday that it was clear that “offering all teenagers the jab would solidify our wall of protection” and said the NHS and public health teams were ready to start rolling out jabs to the 12-15 age group as soon as the JCVI gave its long-awaited green light.Downing Street said on Tuesday that it was not too late for children to be given the jab in gyms and assembly halls as they return to school over the coming days, though Boris Johnson’s official spokesperson stressed that this would happen only with JCVI approval. No 10 said last week it was hoping that this approval would come “as soon as possible” but there is still no date for the committee to announce its decision.A health source insisted that there was no shortage of vaccine supplies of the kind that would make it impossible to operate a booster programme at the same time as protecting 12 to 15-year-olds. Mr Javid has asked the NHS to be ready to roll out jabs to both groups, said a Department for Health and Social Care spokesperson.Downing Street said that it expected over-50s who have already received two doses of Covid vaccine to start getting their third “booster” shot during the course of September, though this too is dependent on JCVI approval. There are concerns that the effectiveness of the first two doses, given to the oldest patients as early as December last year, may now be wearing off.But Mr Javid has said that ”the main consideration for any decision on vaccinating our young people will always be the risks and the benefits to children themselves”, rather than any knock-on impact on other age groups.Concern over children’s vulnerability to coronavirus has been heightened by a new study using brain scans to show that teenagers with long Covid display similar neurodegenerative damage to that seen in adults, which is linked to memory loss, difficulty concentrating and disruption to sleep.Epidemiologist Dr Deepti Gurdasani, of Queen Mary University London, told The Independent that in the light of the evidence from the French research, it was “disturbing” that children were being sent unvaccinated into classrooms at a time when infection rates are 26 times higher than this time last year.Dr Gurdasani said that, with one in 40 secondary-age children and one in 50 of primary age thought to be carrying the virus in England, there was little doubt that infections will rise “higher than they have ever been” in schools once term-time gets underway.“We are sending children who are plainly susceptible and unvaccinated into environments where previous mitigations like ‘school bubbles’ have been removed, where masks are no longer mandatory and where they are not going to contact trace,” she said.“We are going into September with infections 26 times higher than last year, when we were only dealing with the less infectious original variant and cases nonetheless quadrupled after schools returned. This will almost certainly lead to a massive surge in infections.”Dr Gurdasani pointed to the study published last week by Covid researchers at a Marseille hospital which for the first time showed evidence of “hypometabolism” in children’s brains as that seen in adult long Covid sufferers – even in cases where the initial coronavirus symptoms were mild.Evidence from brain scans pointed to “long Covid in children with functional brain metabolism patterns similar to those found in adult patients, regardless of age and initial severity of the infection”, found the study, published in the European Journal of Nuclear Medicine.Dr Gurdasani said that 12 million children have now been vaccinated safely and effectively in countries around the world, including the US, with only “extremely low” incidence of harmful side effects.“To me it is worrying that we are exposing children to a virus which has long-term neurological effects while their brains are developing,” she said.“I’m not sure what they are waiting for. It is not a cautious approach to be waiting for more data when every week we are seeing 24,000 adolescents being infected and some of them will end up with long Covid. It is very, very disturbing.“There are 3.9 million 12 to 15-year-olds. The Pfizer vaccine was approved by the MHRA as long ago as June. They could all have been vaccinated by now.”Virologist Dr Stephen Griffin told The Independent that vaccination of 12 to 15-year-olds was “definitely necessary”.And the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) said that jabs for teens would help avert the danger of further school closures following two academic years in which pupils have suffered from massive disruption to classes.ASCL general secretary Geoff Barton said: “There is a good argument for making coronavirus vaccinations available to 12 to 15-year-olds on the grounds of reducing the risk of educational disruption during the autumn term and beyond, as well as providing additional public health protections.“We understand the importance of balancing these benefits against evidence of any potential risk from vaccinations and the JCVI is best placed to make that judgement, but we really do need a decision sooner rather than later.”The DHSC spokesperson said: “There are no supply issues and the health secretary has asked the NHS to be ready to roll out Covid-19 vaccines to 12 to 15-year-olds and deliver an autumn booster campaign, subject to final advice from the JCVI.“Our phenomenal vaccine programme is building a wall of defence across the country, with more than 105,000 lives saved and over 82,100 hospitalisations prevented.”Meanwhile, Downing Street confirmed that there was no change to plans to require proof of full vaccination for anyone visiting a nightclub in England from the end of September. 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UK officials did not push to their US counterparts to keep a gate open at Kabul airport before the deadly bomb attack in the area, foreign secretary Dominic Raab has said.American forces decided to keep the gate open longer than they wanted to allow British officials to continue evacuating personnel, according to leaked claims from the Pentagon.But Mr Raab said it was “just not true” to suggest the UK called for the airport’s Abbey Gate to be left open for part of its exit operation, which then contributed to the suicide bombing attack by an offshoot of the so-called Islamic State.The foreign secretary told Sky News: “It is certainly right to say we got our civilians out of the processing centre by Abbey Gate, but it is just not true to suggest that other than securing our civilians inside the airport that we were pushing to leave the gate open.”He added: “In fact, and let me just be clear about this, we were issuing changes of travel advice before the bomb attack took place and saying to people in the crowd … that certainly UK nationals and anyone else should leave because of the risk.”The so-called Islamic State’s Afghan offshoot, Isis-K, carried out the attack on Kabul airport on Thursday which killed two Britons and the child of a British national, along with 13 US service personnel and scores of Afghans.The terrorist attack in Afghanistan has led to a transatlantic blame game, with US sources indicating the gate that was attacked was kept open to facilitate the British evacuation.According to leaked Pentagon notes obtained by Politico, Rear Admiral Peter Vasely, commander of US forces in Afghanistan, had wanted to close Abbey Gate but said it was kept open to allow UK evacuees inside.Asked if he thought the US briefing from the Pentagon was correct, Mr Raab told LBC: “I don’t recognise it as accurate,” adding that the British operation “wouldn’t have required leaving any gates open”.No 10 also moved to reject the allegations surfacing in the US. Boris Johnson’s official spokesman said: “It’s simply not true to suggest that we pushed to keep the gate open.”Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith blamed Joe Biden’s administration for the terror attack at Kabul airport. “President Biden was responsible for those decisions which, I believe, were critical in the course of the events that we’ve seen unfolding,” he told LBC.The influential MP added: “I do think now to attempt to try and brief against the UK on the suicide bombing is reprehensible really, because … if the American government or the American military were very serious about shutting the gates, they would have shut the gates.”The final US troops left Kabul on a flight shortly before midnight local time on Monday, meeting US president Joe Biden’s commitment to withdraw ahead of the deadline.Mr Raab added he had an “excellent working relationship” with the US secretary of state Antony Blinken – pointing to last night’s UN Security Council resolution, which calls on the Taliban to offer safe passage, humanitarian access and respect for human rights.The foreign secretary also defended the US after a weekend drone strike targeted at a vehicle “carrying Isis fighters” reportedly killed 10 civilians. Mr Raab said the moral responsibility for civilian casualties caused by drone strikes “lies with the terrorists” .The minister told Times Radio: “The right of self-defence is ultimately for every country to decide, but we do support exercising it and of course it has got to be targeted in accordance with international law, and the aim of the Americans was to hit a terrorist.”He added: “And we know history shows – recent history in particular – that terrorists will try to hide in cover where civilians are at risk. I think the moral responsibility of that lies with the terrorists.”Mr Raab also said the UK will “reserve the right” to take part in air strikes in Afghanistan in the future in the interests of “self-defence”. It comes as the head of the RAF indicated that British forces are still prepared to launch air strikes to target so-called Islamic State terrorists in Afghanistan. “If there’s an opportunity for us to contribute I am in no doubt that we will be ready to,” said Air Chief Marshal Sir Mike Wigston.Meanwhile, Mr Raab denied claims in the Sunday Times he did not take regular calls from Afghan and Pakistani ministers during the evacuation from Kabul airport, allegedly because he thought Afghanistan was “yesterday’s war”.The cabinet minister said that anyone “toddling off” to give “buck-passing briefings either at me or the FCDO is frankly not credible and it is deeply irresponsible”.However, he was unable to name any time before the last few weeks in which he had spoken to ministers from either Pakistan or Afghanistan. He told LBC: “I can’t tell you my precise call sheet for the last six months.”But he said he was part of a “team of ministers” and delegated phone calls to colleagues, including Foreign Office minister Lord Ahmad, who had led the UK’s relationship with the Afghan government.The foreign secretary also insisted that there were “real, tangible” gains from the UK’s military action in Afghanistan over the last 20 years. “We have got to look at the gains that we made because of the sacrifice of so many.” More

The chief executive of high street retail giant Next has blamed the government’s “insane” immigration policy for the huge shortage of lorry drivers causing chaos in Britain’s supply chain.Lord Wolfson – a Conservative peer and Brexit supporter – called on the Home Office to change the rules to allow more heavy-goods vehicle (HGV) drivers to work in the UK amid ongoing shortages and disruption.“It strikes me as being insane that despite the fact that everyone knows that we desperately need drivers, the Home Office are still preventing people coming to this country to work as drivers,” he told LBC.Reluctant to blame Brexit for the crisis, Lord Wolfson said: “I personally don’t think that’s the problem with Brexit, I think it’s the problem with the way in which our immigration system is being run.”The Next boss added: “I think there’s an enormous difference between having control over your immigration system, which I think we should have, and running that system well, which I’m not sure that we are.”Dire stock shortages have left many supermarkets shelves empty in recent weeks, while Nando’s has been forced to close dozens of outlets and McDonald’s ran out of milkshakes.The head of Iceland’s boss warned that supply disruption could see Christmas “cancelled” for some families this year, while retailer The Entertainer has said it would cause a reduced choice of toys this Christmas.The Road Haulage Association (RHA) estimates that up to 20,000 HGV drivers from the EU left during the Brexit process – adding to a crisis which has left the country short of at least 90,000 drivers in all.“I think also we need to look at the policies that we have going forward to make sure that people who want to come and work in Britain, have the skills that we need, can get here,” said Lord Wolfson.Asked if he would welcome the return of drivers from the EU, the Next boss said: “Well not necessarily just European countries. I think we should be welcoming all people who want to work, who want to contribute to our economy and who have skills that we desperately need.”The RHA has pleaded with the government to put haulage driving on the shortage occupation list so overseas drivers can apply for visas on a temporary basis. Logistics UK and the British Retail Consortium (BRC) have also called on ministers to offer temporary visas to EU drivers.But business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng wrote back to industry leaders on Friday – telling them foreign workers offered only “a short-term, temporary solution” to the shortage. “I am sure you would agree on the importance of utilising the strength of our domestic workforce,” said Mr Kwarteng in his reply.Labour has also called on shortage occupation list. The opposition blamed the government’s “chaotic” approach to a Brexit trade deal and the failure to engage with the logistics industry for the current crisis.“We need a clear-sighted strategy from the government as to how it intends to fill what’s estimated to be a 90,000 shortfall in HGV drivers,” shadow transport secretary Jim McMahon told The Independent.He called on ministers to work with the Migration Advisory Committee to identify how a shortage of drivers could be recognised in the new immigration points system.“This crisis isn’t going to go away, no matter how much ministers bury their heads in the sand,” said the Labour MP.The Liberal Democrats have called on the government to rethink its immigration policy entirely and scrap its “arbitrary” threshold on salaries for skilled worker visas.Meanwhile, former Labour MP and Leave campaigner Kate Hoey has attracted criticism after she admitted Northern Ireland was “sacrificed” in the trade deal with the EU.She suggested on GB News that the province had been abandoned because otherwise “we weren’t going to get Brexit at all”.Baroness Hoey, recently given a role as a post-Brexit trade envoy, has been a fierce critic of the Northern Ireland Protocol which has introduced new customs checks on NI-GB trade. More

Former Cabinet minister James Brokenshire has revealed his cancer has “progressed” and he will be starting a “new line of treatment”. The Tory MP said he was under the care of doctors at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust in central London, and now needed “space to focus on treatment”.Mr Brokenshire, 53, resigned as Northern Ireland secretary in 2018 for surgery to remove a lesion on his right lung, but returned to Theresa May’s cabinet later that year as housing secretary and joined the Home Office under Boris Johnson in 2020.He announced in January he was taking a leave of absence from ministerial duties for surgery on a tumour.But in July he resigned as security minister in July after telling Mr Johnson that his recovery from the surgery in February was taking “longer than expected”.The father-of-three previously said his lung cancer diagnosis came as a “jolt” as he had never smoked.On Tuesday, he tweeted a photo of himself and his wife along with an update about his condition, and said he was “keeping upbeat”.Writing on Twitter, the Old Bexley and Sidcup MP said: “Regrettably my cancer has progressed. Am starting a new line of treatment this week & receiving great care from the team at GSTTnhs.“Unwelcome news but keeping upbeat. Cathy & the kids have been amazing & appreciate all the kind messages. Now need space to focus on treatment.” More

It is not too late for children aged under 16 to be vaccinated for Covid-19 as they return to school this autumn if the government’s expert advisers give the green light, Downing Street has said.Medical watchdog the MHRA cleared the Pfizer vaccine as safe for 12-15 year olds in June and this month gave the thumbs-up to the Moderna jab, but the independent Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) is yet to give its approval to a rollout for under-16s.NHS England last week wrote to health trusts to ask them to confirm plans to roll out the vaccine to this group by November if the jabs are approved. Downing Street said then that it was hoping for a JCVI decision “as soon as possible”.Once clearance is received, schools are expected to set up on-site vaccination venues in gyms and assembly halls or make arrangements for children to take time out of lessons to travel to medical sites where they can get their inoculation.Schools in most parts of England are reopening for the autumn term over the next few days, though lessons began last week in Leicestershire.But asked if this meant that it was too late to arrange a vaccination drive to coincide with the return to school, Boris Johnson’s official spokesperson said: “No, it doesn’t mean that. It means that the JCVI as an independent body are still considering what they believe is the right advice and the right recommendation.“We will, as we have throughout, act on the clinical advice.”The spokesperson indicated that preparations have already been made with schools and health authorities to get vaccinations going quickly as soon as the JCVI approval is received.What we have sought to do is ensure that, should the JCVI make a decision that is suitable to vaccinate younger children, then the NHS and schools are in a position to move as soon as possible.”The rate of vaccination of 12-15 year-olds will depend on arrangements in different areas, but the government wants to ensure that “there are no barriers to that happening should we receive that clinical advice,” said the spokesperson.Schools have been told that there is no need for “bubbles” of pupils to be sent home if one tests for coronavirus this term and the government is not requiring the use of masks in lessons.But there has been controversy over the decision to ask parents to ensure their children test regularly for Covid at home, after receiving initial school-based tests at the start of term. More

Boris Johnson’s government has been accused of allowing the UK to “outsource animal cruelty”, as more than 100 MPs and peers demand a ban on fur sales.The cross-party group of 102 parliamentarians has written to environment secretary George Eustace to call on the government to ban the import and sale of animal fur in the UK.It comes 20 years after animal fur farming was banned across Britain, although the government still allows it to be imported and sold.Carrie Johnson, the prime minister’s wife, previously responded a report in The Independent on conditions at a Polish fur farm by saying that anyone who buys fur is “sick”.In their letter, the group of MPs and peers said: “Despite banning fur farming in 2000, the UK currently allows imports of tens of millions of pounds of animal fur each year.”The group added: “By continuing to allow the sale of fur, we are exercising a double standard, and effectively outsourcing animal cruelty.”Labour MP Maria Eagle said banning the sale of fur could also help prevent future pandemics by reducing the demand for fur farms – which are believed by some experts to act as “reservoirs” for new viruses.She said: “The coronavirus pandemic should force governments the world over to reconsider the way we farm, keep, and interact with animals. Exploiting fur-bearing wild species in unsanitary, overcrowded and inhumane factory farms is not only cruel, but also imposes potentially devastating public health risks.”Conservative MP Christian Wakeford, one of the backbenchers who helped co-ordinate the letter, claimed Brexit offered the UK the chance to “set a global example on animal welfare”.Previously, the government had claimed that a sales ban in the UK would be incompatible with EU rules on animal welfare and imports.In May, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) announced a call for evidence on post-Brexit animal welfare standards – and is understood to be considering a ban on fur sales.Mr Wakeford said: “The UK has entered a new chapter in its trading relationship with the rest of the world. Banning fur sales will send a strong message that we intend to use this new beginning to set ourselves apart as world leaders in animal welfare.”The Tory MP added: “There has never been a better time to end our association with this cruel, outdated and unnecessary practice and I hope the strength of cross-party feeling on this issue encourages the government to introduce a ban at the earliest opportunity.”In June, a group of 60 vets and virologists also wrote to Mr Eustace warning of the dangers posed to public health by fur farms.A recent opinion poll by Yonder showed 72 per cent of the British public supported a ban on fur sales. SNP MP Lisa Cameron said the government should “take heed of public sentiment” and pursue a fur sales ban “without delay”.The call comes as Defra announced that Geronimo the alpaca was killed after a court-ordered destruction warrant, after the animal twice tested positive for bovine tuberculosis.Downing Street has expressed sympathy for Geronimo’s owner Helen Macdonald, while chief veterinary officer Christine Middlemiss said it was “a terribly sad situation”. More

A former British solder is set to flee Afghanistan with hundreds of Afghans — including his own staff — by travelling through Taliban-controlled land.Ben Slater is reportedly planning to make his own way out of the country as he did not receive the necessary visas for air evacuation from the UK government.The 37-year-old, who used to work as a bodyguard to British ambassadors abroad, toldThe Telegraph he felt “massively let down” by the government.Thousands of British nationals and Afghan allies have been evacuated from Afghanistan since its fall to the Taliban earlier this month.The final members of UK military and diplomatic personnel left Kabul airport on Saturday night, ending the largest evacuation mission since the Second World War.Mr Slater, who used worked for the Royal Military Police, reportedly supported dozens of evacuations in the UK’s airlift programme.He asked officials to organise the evacuation of himself and Nomad Concepts Group staff but did not receive visas,The Telegraph reported.Mr Slater has now launched his own operation to leave Afghanistan by land, attempting to flee the country with 400 Afghan nationals including his 50 staff members, which are mainly women, according to the newspaper.He told The Telegraph it is set to be a “long trip”. “I am hoping on the other end that the FCDO [Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office] have got our visas sorted, or at least have spoken to the foreign affairs ministry in our destination country to allow access for our vulnerable staff,” he added.Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary, said the number of UK nationals still in the country was in the “low hundreds”.He was unable to give a “definitive” figure on how many Afghans the UK failed to airlift to safety after the Taliban seized power.The foreign secretary also said it would be a “challenge” for people trying to escape Afghanistan by fleeing to a border.Mr Raab told Sky News: “We are holding very squarely the Taliban to their explicit assurances – they have made them bilaterally to us, they have made them to other countries and we have now firmed this up with a UN security council resolution – that they must allow safe passage, not just for our nationals but for Afghans, particularly vulnerable ones, who wish to leave.”The FCDO has been approached for comment. More