Dominic Raab: With hindsight I wouldn't have gone on holiday

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has defended being on holiday as the Taliban was advancing on Kabul, saying "with hindsight" he would not have gone away at all.

He told BBC Breakfast the whole world was "caught unawares" by the speed of the Taliban takeover.

But Mr Raab said the idea he was "lounging on the beach" was "nonsense".

Instead the foreign secretary said he was focused on the evacuation operation and the stability of Kabul airport.

Mr Raab denied reports he was asked to return to the UK on Friday 13 August, rather than staying on holiday until Sunday 15 August.

However, he added: "With hindsight, of course, I would have wanted to be back earlier."

Mr Raab said reports that he had been "lounging on the beach" or paddleboarding in the sea were "nonsense".

"In fact the sea wasn't open because there was a red flag so no one was paddleboarding," he said.

"I based my family on the beach… precisely so I could get back to the apartment, engage in the [emergency] Cobra meetings, engage with my emergency response team at the Foreign Office, engage in the international engagement I needed to," he added.

Last week it emerged that Mr Raab had been unavailable to make a phone call to the Afghan foreign minister about evacuating interpreters who had helped UK forces while he was on holiday in Crete.

He had faced calls to resign over the issue but Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he had full confidence in his foreign secretary.

The UK is rushing to evacuate British nationals, as well as Afghans who worked for the UK and other vulnerable individuals, out of Kabul airport, ahead of a 31 August deadline for foreign troops to leave the country.

The RAF has evacuated 10,291 people out of Kabul to date, including 341 embassy staff, 2,570 UK nationals and 6,308 Afghans eligible under the government's relocation programme.

Brig Dan Blanchford, UK commander in Kabul, said the figure was well beyond the original estimates when the operation began.

The BBC has been told that 2,000 people eligible for the scheme remain in Afghanistan - but the plan is to evacuate more in the coming days.

Defence sources said there had been an "uptick" in people being beaten on their way to the airport and there was also a "very high risk" of a terrorist attack on the airport.

One translator, who worked with British forces in Helmand Province, said he was trapped at Kabul airport with his wife and four-month-old daughter, who is becoming ill, unable to get a visa to leave the country.

The man - who the BBC is not naming for his own safety - said he had sent more than 100 emails to the British embassy but had not received a single reply.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme he feared for his life and the thought of evacuation flights ending in days was making him desperate.

"I'm feeling like I have five more days of my life," he said.

"Nobody cares about me. I really need them to help me, at least to help my little daughter, my wife. I've put their lives in danger now and they are facing every problem because of me."

Col Richard Kemp, former commander of British forces in Afghanistan, said the cut off for civilians leaving on flights would probably be a day or more before the 31 August deadline because the process of getting around 1,000 British troops out of the country was "not simple or quick".

Mr Raab said British troops would withdraw from Afghanistan by the end of the month but would not give an exact date when the last UK flight would leave Kabul.

"The military planners are firming up the details of the time they'll need at the end to draw down their own staff, personnel and equipment. We'll get the details of that, I'm sure, shortly," he said.

He added that the UK wanted to keep using "every hour and day that we've got left" to fly British nationals and eligible Afghans out of the country.

Mr Raab was also pressed on whether the deadline for troops to leave Afghanistan was midnight on 30 or 31 August, after a White House press secretary was unable to confirm the exact timeframe.

In response, he said: "I think it's going right the way up to the end of the calendar month", adding that there would be "further details in due course".

The UK and other allies had urged the US to stay beyond 31 August to allow more time for evacuation flights.

But the Taliban have opposed any extension of the deadline and US President Joe Biden said the airlift had to come to an end soon because of the growing risk of an attack by the Islamic State group in Afghanistan.

Following an emergency virtual meeting of G7 leaders on Tuesday, Prime Minister Mr Johnson said the UK would continue evacuating people from the country "until the last moment" but the Taliban must guarantee a safe passage for those who want to leave after 31 August.