Boris Johnson has said Britain will work with international allies to try to prevent Afghanistan from becoming a "breeding ground for terrorism".
The prime minister also vowed to get as many Afghan nationals who worked with the UK out of the country as the Taliban looks set to take control of the capital Kabul.
With President Ashraf Ghani fled, and insurgent fighters surrounding the capital, the Prime Minister said the situation was “extremely difficult”.
Members of Joint Forces Headquarters (JFHQ) deploying to Afghanistan to assist in the draw down of troops from the area.
LPhot Ben Shread/MoD/Crown Copyright
“I think it is very important that the West should work collectively to get over to that new government – be it by the Taliban or anybody else – that nobody wants Afghanistan once again to be a breeding ground for terror and we don’t think it is in the interests of the people of Afghanistan that it should lapse back into that pre-2001 status,” Mr Johnson said.
“What the UK will be doing is working with our partners in the UN Security, in Nato, to get that message over. We don’t want anybody to bilaterally recognise the Taliban.
“We want a united position among all the like-minded, as far as we can get one, so that we do whatever we can to prevent Afghanistan lapsing back into a breeding ground for terror.”
Mr Johnson said they have already got “a large number” of Afghan nationals out, adding: “We’re working very fast on all the UK nationals, on all the consular cases, and they’re coming forward in numbers at the moment.
“But I do appeal to all those who have yet to make themselves known to us at the airport to come forward.
“But we certainly have the means at the moment to get them out.
Taliban forces are closing in on the city of Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan.
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“It’s just a question of making sure that they’re able to do it over the next few days.”
Parliament will be recalled on Wednesday to discuss the worsening situation in Afghanistan, but many fear it will be too late.
Mr Johnson said: “I think it’s fair to say that the US decision to pull out has accelerated things, but this has been in many ways something that has been a chronicle of an event foretold.
“We’ve known for a long time that this was the way things were going and as I’ve said before, this is a mission whose military component really ended for the UK in 2014. “What we’re dealing with now is the very likely advent of a new regime in Kabul.
“We don’t know exactly what kind of a regime that will be.
“What we want to do is make sure that we as the UK pull together our international partners, our like-minded partners, so that we deal with that regime in a concerted way.”
After fleeing the country, Afghanistan's fleeing president Ashraf Ghani posted on his Facebook page: "Today, I came across a hard choice; I should stand to face the armed Taliban who wanted to enter the palace or leave the dear country that I dedicated my life to protecting and protecting the past twenty years.
He added: "I will always continue to serve my nation with an intellectual moment and a plan to develop. Lots more talk for the future."
The prime minister has faced a backlash from MPs who said the West had been humiliated by insurgents armed with just basic weaponry. MPs are expected to to vent their anger and frustration when they return to Westminster on Wednesday for an emergency recall of Parliament to discuss the crisis.
People arriving from Afghanistan stand in line for paper check at the Friendship Gate crossing point at the Pakistan-Afghanistan border town of Chaman, Pakistan August 15, 2021. REUTERS/Abdul Khaliq Achakzai NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES
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In the meantime, Mr Johnson said the Government’s priority was to assist the remaining British nationals as well as those Afghans who had helped the UK. He said the British ambassador Sir Laurie Bristow had been at Kabul airport helping to process the applications of those seeking to leave.
“Our priority is to make sure that we deliver on our obligations to UK nationals in Afghanistan, to all those who helped the British effort in Afghanistan over 20 years, and to get them out as fast we can,” he said.
“We are going to get as many as we can out in the next few days.”
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