World News | UK Foreign Minister Defends Handling of Afghan Crisis

London, Aug 20 (PTI) UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab was forced to go on the defensive on Friday after it emerged that a phone call between him and his counterpart in the now-collapsed Afghan government failed to take place as the Taliban stormed towards Kabul over the weekend.

In a statement, Raab insisted the government was "working tirelessly" to help people flee Afghanistan as he sought to defend his response to the crisis in the region.

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“The whole government has been working tirelessly over the last week to help as many people evacuate from Afghanistan as possible. The UK Government's overriding priority has been to secure Kabul airport so that flights can leave,” Raab said.

With specific reference to the missed phone call that has dominated headlines in the UK media over the past few days, the minister said: “On Friday afternoon, 13 August, advice was put to my Private Office (around 6pm Afghan time) recommending a call to the Afghan Foreign Minister. This was quickly overtaken by events.

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“The call was delegated to a Minister of State because I was prioritising security and capacity at the airport on the direct advice of the Director and the Director General overseeing the crisis response.

In any event, the Afghan Foreign Minister agreed to take the call, but was unable to because of the rapidly deteriorating situation.”

The Opposition parties have been demanding Raab's resignation as they criticise him for delegating the phone call to a junior minister and also his decision to proceed with holiday plans despite the mounting crisis, forcing a return to work earlier this week.

“The government's approach to prioritise security at the airport was the right one. As a result, 204 UK nationals and their families, Afghan staff and other countries citizens were evacuated on the morning of Monday 16 August. Since then, 1,635 have been evacuated. I pay tribute to the excellent team we have in place, and we continue to prioritise what is required to evacuate people to the UK safely,” said Raab.

Posting on social media, the foreign secretary said his statement was "responding to the inaccurate media reporting over recent days".

But Opposition Labour, the Liberal Democrats, the SNP and Plaid Cymru parties are mounting pressure on Raab to depart his ministerial role and say British Prime Minister Boris Johnson should sack the foreign secretary if he does not stand aside himself.

Several thousand Afghan interpreters and other staff, who have worked for UK forces since the NATO intervention in the country, are in fear of their lives as the Taliban increase their hold on Afghanistan. The United Nations has warned that those deemed to have been "collaborators" by the group are being sought out in door-to-door searches.

Afghans who worked for the UK government can come to the UK as part of the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy. The UK Home Office says it has resettled 2,000 former staff and their families in the UK since 22 June. The target is 5,000 by the end of this year.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)