The UK Foreign Office has called on its citizens, who remain in Afghanistan, not to travel to the Kabul Airport over security concerns.
“The security situation in Afghanistan remains volatile. There is an ongoing and high threat of terrorist attack. Do not travel to Kabul Hamid Karzai International Airport. If you are in the area of the airport, move away to a safe location and await further advice,” the Foreign Office said in a statement on late Wednesday.
According to the ministry, traveling by road in Afghanistan is currently extremely dangerous, with multiple reports of mistreatment of people on their way to the Kabul Airport.
“Commercial flights are not currently operating. If you can leave Afghanistan safely by other means, you should do so immediately,” the Foreign Office concluded.
The UK Ministry of Defence said that more than 11,000 people had been evacuated from Afghanistan by London.
“Latest numbers from Operation PITTING: – 11, 474 people have been evacuated by the UK since 13 August; – 6946 of those people are Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy claimants,” the ministry wrote on its Twitter page on late Wednesday.
The Taliban entered Kabul on August 15, ending a weeks-long offensive and resulting in the collapse of the US-backed government. Internationally recognized Afghan President Ashraf Ghani resigned and left the country for the United Arab Emirates. The seizure of power has forced thousands of Afghans to seek escape from the country for fear of reprisals from the militants.
Meanwhile, Russian Ambassador to Afghanistan Dmitry Zhirnov said that there are approximately 4,000 terrorists of the Islamic State (ISIS) present in Afghanistan, and they are hiding from the Taliban Islamist movement.
The IS branch in Afghanistan — also known as the ISIS-Khorasan — has been operating in the country since 2014. Its relations with the Taliban have been tense.
“As far as I understand, IS terrorists are hiding, that is why there are no clashes [with the Taliban]. There are few [IS militants] — some 4,000 ones — that is why any frontal clash will have a clear outcome, that is why they are hiding,” Zhirnov told the Solovyov Live YouTube channel.
