THE RAF still needs to airlift nearly 2000 Afghan interpreters and other staff who worked for Britain out of Kabul as the evacuation operation enters its final days.
They have been assessed as eligible under the Afghan relocations and assistance policy (Arap) and have passed security checks but remain on the ground.
Latest figures from the Ministry of Defence put the number of people airlifted out of Afghanistan since the Taliban swept to power at more than 10,000.
But the end of the operation is rapidly approaching after US President Joe Biden rejected calls from Boris Johnson and other allies to delay his August 31 withdrawal date for the remaining American troops.
As well as the almost 2000 people eligible under Arap, an unidentified number of “special cases” may be eligible for evacuation, such as LGBTQ advocates, judges and human rights activists.
The number of British citizens who still need evacuating, as well as those who hold dual citizenship, also remained unclear.
A total of 10,291 individuals, including more than 5500 Afghans and their families, have been evacuated by Britain since August 13, as the Taliban was making its rapid advance towards Kabul.
READ MORE: UK to use 'every hour' to help Afghans as US refuses pleas to extend deadline
The MoD said yesterday morning that 1833 had been airlifted in the previous 24 hours.
A timetable for British troops to halt evacuations and begin their own exit has not been set out but is likely to come ahead of the departure of their American counterparts.
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said “every hour” will be used to help people flee and declined to rule out UK forces having to depart by the end of Friday.
“The military planners are working through the limited time they need to draw down their personnel and equipment and so they will firm up those details,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
“We will use every hour and day we’ve got to maximise that throughput to get as many of those residual cases out.
“We’re going to keep going for every day and every hour that we’ve got left.”
Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said that evacuations can continue until the end but conceded that they will have to prioritise moving out US military capability in the “last couple of days”.
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