London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Monday, Mar 09, 2026

Boris Johnson: UK will continue with final stages of Kabul airlift

Prime minister says ‘we’re going to keep going until the last moment’, despite deadly attack on airport
UK forces will continue with the final stages of an evacuation programme from Kabul despite a deadly suicide bombing and gun attack outside the city’s airport, Boris Johnson has said.

But while the prime minister said the UK had extracted the “overwhelming majority” of UK nationals or Afghans eligible to be removed, a series of MPs warned they knew of large numbers who faced being stranded.

Several MPs said that of hundreds of constituents’ family members seeking to leave, many of them UK passport holders, almost none had made it, and that relatives in the UK were being advised to email advice services that never replied.

Johnson chaired a meeting of the government’s emergency Cobra committee after two powerful suicide bombs and a gunman struck one of the main entrances to the Afghan capital’s international airport.

“We’re going to keep going up until the last moment,” the prime minister said. “The conclusion is that we’re able to continue with the programme in the way that we’ve been running it, according to the timetable that we’ve got.”

He added: “We’re now coming towards the very end of it in any event, and we’ve already extracted the overwhelming majority of those under both the schemes – the eligible persons, UK nationals, the Afghan interpreters and others. And it’s been totally phenomenal effort by the UK. There’s been nothing like it for decades and decades.”

Johnson said that while some people eligible to reach the UK would not be reached before the airlift ended, the UK would pressure the Taliban to let them out – something Afghanistan’s new rulers have said they will not do.

Government figures released on Thursday night said that more than 13,140 people had been evacuated by the UK military since the mission began on 13 August. This included embassy staff, British nationals, those eligible under the Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy (Arap) programme and some nationals from partner nations.

However, a number of MPs told the Guardian they knew of large numbers of people still in Afghanistan who were eligible to leave for the UK who now had no idea how this would happen.

The Labour MP Lyn Brown, who represents West Ham in east London, said she was “infuriated” with the response she received from the government, calling it “a complete dereliction of duty”.

Over the course of the crisis her office has taken up cases on behalf of 82 people living in her constituency. But most of them have been asking for help on behalf of multiple family members, and so her office has been trying to help 356 individuals reach Britain.

One of the most harrowing cases involved a British girl of school age needing a passport to leave. Brown’s office first raised this with the Home Office early last week, but it took days to get a response and the girl was only told to go to the Baron hotel – where people have been processed ahead of evacuation by the British – as the airlift mission was coming close to the end.

On Thursday afternoon Brown and her staff were told the girl had been on a bus cleared to head for the airport – but that she and others without a passport had then been ordered off by a solider, and left stranded.

Harriet Harman, the Labour MP for Camberwell and Peckham in south London, said that of 228 family members of 34 constituents, including UK nationals, joint UK-Afghan nationals, and relatives of UK nationals, none had managed to leave since the Taliban took over.

While ministers have been briefing MPs, Harman said, it appeared impossible to get news on how people could leave.

“They keep saying, ‘Here’s an email address to get updates,’” she said. “But we have had no feedback aside from the changing kaleidoscope of general advice. We’ve had no feedback on our individual cases. None of us have.

“Really it would be better for the ministers to just say, ‘Sorry, we can’t give you any updates, because we haven’t got the capacity.’ Obviously, there’s a sense of mounting desperation.”

Alison Thewliss, the Scottish National party MP for Glasgow Central, said up to 50 constituents were similarly seeking news. “We’ve had one family who had to move from house to house to house, and then to the airport to wait. That’s women on their own, with five children, one of them eight months pregnant.

“We’re providing the information that we have, but it’s not really specific enough to help people. It’s really difficult. It’s been difficult for my entire team. We don’t have any answers to give folk. And we’re really, really conscious that we’re running out of time.”
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Trump Declines UK Offer to Deploy Aircraft Carriers to Middle East Amid Iran Conflict
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle to Return to Australia After Seven Years for Philanthropic and Business Engagements
UK Government Signals Independence From Washington as Cooper Says Britain Does Not Agree With Trump on Every Issue
UK Experts Warn AI Chatbots Are Fueling Surge in Claims of Organised ‘Satanic’ Ritual Abuse
UK Political Parties Divided Over Strategy as Iran Conflict Reshapes Foreign Policy Debate
Britain Discloses Secret Military Repair Hubs Operating Inside Ukraine
Trump Says US No Longer Needs UK Carrier Support After Delayed Offer Amid Iran Conflict
Why Britain Has Become Involved in the US-Israel Military Campaign Against Iran
UK Gas Storage Falls to Under Two Days as Iran Conflict Jolts Global Energy Markets
UK Warned to Brace for Economic Shock as Iran War Drives Global Energy Price Surge
Starmer and Trump Hold First Call After Public Dispute Over Iran Conflict
UK Dentists Returned £1.3 Billion to Government as Shift Toward Private Care Accelerates
Expert Warns UK Must Build Emergency Food Stockpiles to Prepare for Climate Shocks or War
UK Plans Charter Flight to Evacuate British Nationals from Gulf as Regional Conflict Disrupts Air Travel
Families of Zimbabwe’s Liberation Fighters Call on Britain to Help Locate Skulls Taken During Colonial War
Iran’s Ambassador Warns Britain to ‘Be Very Careful’ Over Deeper Role in Expanding Middle East War
UK Military Leadership Defends Britain’s Defensive Role in Expanding Middle East Conflict
Four U.S. Strategic Bombers Arrive in Britain as Iran War Intensifies
Soham Murderer Ian Huntley Dies After Violent Attack in High-Security Prison
UK Lawmakers and Experts Condemn Scale of Overseas Human Remains Held in British Museums
Royal Navy Aircraft Carrier HMS Prince of Wales Placed on Standby for Potential Deployment
United Kingdom Confirms U.S. Military Using British Bases for Operations Targeting Iranian Missile Sites
Starmer Defends UK Role in Iran Conflict After Renewed Criticism from President Trump
Blue Owl Reveals £36 Million Exposure After Collapse of UK Lender Serving Wealthy Clients
UK Asylum Reform Plan Triggers Fierce Debate Over Border Control and Humanitarian Impact
US Stealth Bombers Head to UK Base as Trump Issues Stark Warning to Iran
UK Deputy Prime Minister Says Legal Case Could Exist for British Strikes on Iranian Missile Sites
Investigators Link Mysterious Parcel Fires Across Europe to Russian Intelligence Operation
Debate Intensifies Over Britain’s Legal Justification for US Military Operations Launched From UK Bases
Britain Faces Heightened Energy Price Risks as Iran-Linked Tensions Threaten Global Oil and Gas Supplies
British Counter-Terror Police Arrest Four Suspected of Spying on Jewish Community for Iran
Axel Springer Agrees $770 Million Deal to Acquire Britain’s Daily Telegraph
Iceland Supermarket Drops Trademark Challenge Against Icelandic Government in Long-Running Naming Dispute
UK Defence Secretary Visits Cyprus Following Scrutiny of Britain’s Response to Drone Attacks
Questions Grow Over Britain’s Military Readiness as Response to Iran Conflict Draws Scrutiny
UK Offers Failed Asylum Seeker Families Up to Forty Thousand Pounds to Leave Voluntarily
Saharan Dust Could Bring ‘Blood Rain’ to Parts of the UK as Weather Systems Shift
UK Deploys Additional Typhoon Fighter Jets to Qatar and Helicopters to Cyprus Amid Rising Middle East Tensions
Experts Urge Britain to Accelerate Renewable Energy Push as Global Conflicts Drive Up Costs
British Public Shows Strong Reluctance to Join Wider War in Iran
First UK Evacuation Flight Departs Middle East After Lengthy Delay
United Kingdom Imposes New Visa Requirements on Travelers from St. Lucia and Nicaragua
Iran Conflict Strains U.S.–U.K. Alliance as Trump and Starmer Clash Over Military Strategy
UK Interest Rates Could Rise Above Four Percent Again if Energy Shock Continues, Think Tank Warns
Starmer Defends Britain’s Iran Strategy as Badenoch Urges Stronger Military Support
Labour MP Says She Saw No Sign Husband Broke Law After Arrest in China Espionage Investigation
UK Jobless Rate Overtakes Italy’s for First Time in Years as Labour Market Weakens
United Kingdom Suspends Student Visas for Four Countries in Unprecedented Immigration Move
Campaigners Warn UK Student Visa Ban Could Push Migrants Toward Dangerous Channel Crossings
First U.K. Charter Flight for Stranded Nationals Set to Depart Oman Amid Middle East Crisis
×