London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Oct 03, 2025

US special relationship still alive after Afghan evacuation, says Dominic Raab

US special relationship still alive after Afghan evacuation, says Dominic Raab

Foreign secretary also says that ‘with hindsight’ he should not have been on holiday during Taliban takeover

Britain’s failure to persuade the US to extend the evacuation from Afghanistan into September does not mean the “special relationship” with Washington is over, the foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, has said.

He made the comment in an interview following the virtual G7 summit, which resulted in Joe Biden rejecting calls from the UK and other European partners for the evacuation mission from Afghanistan to be extended beyond 31 August.

In a series of broadcast appearances, Raab also admitted that “with the benefit of hindsight” he should not have been on holiday in Crete when the Taliban were taking over Kabul.

Asked on LBC whether the outcome of the G7 summit meant the special relationship with the US was over, Raab replied: “No, of course it isn’t. It matters a huge amount.”

When it was put to him that Boris Johnson’s conversations with Biden on the evacuation process clearly had not been productive, Raab said that Johnson had been “right to convene the G7 as a whole”.

He went on: “A lot of countries wanted to test: can we have some more days [for the evacuation]. It’s very clear from that we’ll now be working to the end of August.”

Raab faced strong criticism when it emerged that he was on holiday in Crete over the weekend when the Taliban took Kabul. On Wednesday morning he admitted that being away during this period was a mistake.

“Of course, with the benefit of hindsight, I would have wanted to be back in London, but as foreign secretary I’m always able when I’m abroad to respond to a crisis,” he said.

But, in an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, he refused to comment directly on reports that he stayed in Crete until the Sunday night despite a Downing Street official telling him on Friday that he should return.

Raab reportedly got Johnson to agree that he could stay abroad for an extra two days, but Raab told Today that he did not want to comment on “speculation in the media”.

He also insisted that the idea that he was “lounging on the beach” was “just nonsense”. And reports that he was paddleboarding were also wrong, he said in his interviews.

“The stuff about me paddleboarding, nonsense, the sea was actually closed, it was a red notice. I was focused on the Cobra meetings, the Foreign Office team, the director and the director general, and the international engagement.”

Raab said 9,000 British nationals, and Afghans who had worked for the British, had been evacuated from Kabul since 15 August.

Asked about the Taliban’s declaration on Tuesday that they did not want highly skilled people to leave the country, Raab said if they wanted to avoid this, they would have to run an inclusive administration.

“They’re not going to be able to avoid the refugee crisis by just a few roadblocks, they’re not going to be able to hermetically seal the Afghan border, which is rugged and wide-ranging,” he said.

“If they’re really serious about avoiding the ‘brain drain’ … they’re going to have to find a way to bring in other factions to be more inclusive and to be more moderate compared with the previous Taliban.”

Raab also said the Taliban would have to allow a permissive environment if they wanted international aid to continue.

“If [the Taliban] want aid going into Afghanistan, it won’t go through the Taliban, they’ll have to provide a permissive environment for NGOs [non-governmental organisations] and the UN,” he said.

Raab confirmed that the troops would withdraw by 31 August, but he would not comment on reports that in practice this meant the British civilian evacuation operation would have to end within about 36 hours.

“I’m not going to give the precise timeline,” he said. “The military planners will work out how much time they need to withdraw their equipment, their staff, and what’s really important is we will make the maximum use of all the time we have left.”

After that, he said, Britain would like to see Kabul going back to being a “functional” airport for civilian flights.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
Nvidia Pledges Up to $100 Billion Investment in OpenAI to Power Massive AI Data Center Build-Out
U.S. Signals ‘Large and Forceful’ Support for Argentina Amid Market Turmoil
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
Vietnam Faces Up to $25 Billion Export Loss as U.S. Tariffs Bite
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Indonesia Court Upholds Military Law Amid Concerns Over Expanded Civilian Role
Larry Ellison, Michael Dell and Rupert Murdoch Join Trump-Backed Bid to Take Over TikTok
Trump and Musk Reunite Publicly for First Time Since Fallout at Kirk Memorial
Vietnam Closes 86 Million Untouched Bank Accounts Over Biometric ID Rules
×