phase of the evacuation effort. earlier, the head of the armed forces general sir nick carter said it was heartbreaking that they had not been able to rescue everybody who is eligible. our diplomatic affairs correspondent caroline hawley reports. at raf brize norton this morning british military personnel arriving back on uk soil. around a thousand were flown out to afghanistan to help in an unprecedented rescue mission which is now in its final hours. we ve done an extraordinaryjob to evacuate as many as we have, but i m afraid it s absolutely heartbreaking that we can t bring everybody out. and i think that point has been made very strongly, certainly by the defence secretary and others over the last ten days or so. personally, i ve probably had over 100 messages from different afghans who i know in my long association with the country, and many of those friends of mine won t make it out. and for me, not a day passes without me having a bit of a tear in my eye about all of that.
morning that the final flight just for civilians would be leaving today and just after one o clock this afternoon we got confirmation that the final flight had left kabul airport. there will be further flights over the weekend but the focus of those will be getting british military personnel and diplomatic staff out. it is possible some civilians may be able to get places on those flights but it certainly will not be the focus. this really is a moment that we have been preparing for over the past couple of weeks but nevertheless it is quite a moment that this will be the last chance for civilians to get out. one figure who has been present over the past couple of weeks at kabul airport is the british ambassador sir laurie bristow. he moved from the embassy to the airport to oversee the operation and he has posted on social media film he has posted on social media film he made of his final thoughts as the final civilian flight departs.
from the airport would be able to carry evacuees but would also transport uk diplomatic staff and military personnel as the operation winds down. it comes as the british ambassador to afghanistan sir laurie bristow said it was time to close this phase of the evacuation effort. earlier, the head of the armed forces general sir nick carter said it was heartbreaking that they had not been able to rescue everybody who is eligible. our diplomatic affairs correspondent caroline hawley reports. at raf brize norton this morning british military personnel arriving back on uk soil. around a thousand were flown out to afghanistan to help in an unprecedented rescue mission which is now in its final hours. we ve done an extraordinaryjob to evacuate as many as we have, but i m afraid it s absolutely heartbreaking that we can t bring everybody out. and i think that point has been made very strongly, certainly by the defence secretary and others over the last ten days or so. personally, i ve pro
the head of the armed forces has said the uk will end its evacuation of civilians out of afghanistan today leaving troops to return to britain in the remaining aircraft. general sir nick carter said it was heartbreaking that they had not been able to rescue everybody who is eligible. a mass airlift has been under way at kabul airport since the taliban took control of the capital this month. 170 people were killed when the airport was targeted on thursday by a suicide bomber. here s our diplomatic affairs correspondent caroline hawley with the latest. at raf brize norton this morning british military personnel arriving back on uk soil. around a thousand was flown out to afghanistan to help in an unprecedented rescue mission which is now in its final hours.
to afghanistan sir laurie bristow said it was time to close this phase of the evacuation effort. earlier, the head of the armed forces general sir nick carter said it was heartbreaking that they had not been able to rescue everybody who is eligible. our diplomatic affairs correspondent caroline hawley reports. at raf brize norton this morning british military personnel arriving back on uk soil. around a thousand were flown out to afghanistan to help in an unprecedented rescue mission which is now in its final hours. we ve done an extraordinaryjob to evacuate as many as we have, but i m afraid it s absolutely heartbreaking that we can t bring everybody out. and i think that point has been made very strongly, certainly by the defence secretary and others over the last ten days or so. personally, i ve probably had over 100 messages from different afghans who i know in my long association with the country, and many of those friends of mine won t make it out. and for me, not a day pas