British troops are racing against the clock to rescue the remaining UK nationals and their local allies from Afghanistan after the Taliban toppled the country’s Western-backed government in less than a week, writes Olivia Gavoyannis.
Around 600 British soldiers will be involved in Operation Pitting – a mission to rescue around 4,000 or so British nationals and eligible Afghans who are thought to be in the capital, Kabul.
The first British repatriation flight from Afghanistan landed in the UK on Sunday night and the PM’s spokesperson said flights will continue to evacuate hundreds more from Kabul every day for “as long as is safe”.
Small signs of success at Saudi peace talks
Although Russia called the peace talks in Jeddah “futile”, Chinese cooperation could mark a positive geopolitical shift away from recent US-Sino escalation.
