he should have been on the phone to the afghan government, that’s the afghan government, that s absolutely the afghan government, that s absolutely clear the afghan government, that s absolutely clear but the afghan government, that s absolutely clear but also - the afghan government, that s absolutely clear but also it - the afghan government, that s absolutely clear but also it has i absolutely clear but also it has emerged that he did not make phone calls to any of the ambassadors in the region until after kabul had fallen. we have had people, tens of thousands of people fleeing afghanistan into neighbouring countries over the last two weeks. we have had communications collapsing with severe consequences for partners in the region. it s not at all clear what calls he was making and there is real anger about this on all sides of the house of commons, from veterans who served in afghanistan on the conservative and labour benches, because our armed forces have gone back into af
air of deep uncertainty. many people still worried that they could be targeted. it is hard to overstate how much of a presence the taliban have in this city. everywhere you go you see heavily armed fighters patrolling in vehicles seized from the security forces or wandering the streets. very surreal. but this seems to be the new normal. at least for now. flights have gradually resumed. certainly the military evacuation once. some reports that some commercial flights have evacuation once. some reports that some commercialflights have been able to take off as well over the last day. the situation seems to be somewhat more under control compared to the very, very chaotic scenes we saw at the start of the week when people were, thousands of people made their way into the airport, trying to cling onto planes as they were taking off, some even staying tragically holding onto the landing gear after the plane was in the middle of the air and falling to
secretary, dominic raab, of a dereliction of duty, after reports he declined to phone his afghan counterpart to seek help airlifting interpreters out of afghanistan. but the government has defended his actions. the only problem last week was not a phone call to an afghan government that was melting away and had almost, or didn t have any leverage. the number one challenge at the end of last week was whether the airport would continue to fly, allow planes to fly out, and those people we were getting out, would they be allowed to get out? survivors in haiti ask when is help coming, after saturday s earthquake killed almost 2,000 people. the largest survey of covid infection in the uk has found that both the pfizer and astrazeneca vaccines are still offering good protection against the delta variant. and coming up this hour, as the paralympics get under way next week, one campaign will light up uk landmarks to raise awareness of global disability discrimination.
mission. so the roots of this lack of care and attention, and this lack of care and attention, and this lack of support, go back many months, if not years. and that is why now, there is urgent need to engage diplomatically with the new regime to do everything we possibly can, leaving the international community, to maximise the chances of getting as many people out of the country as we can possibly get out. let as many people out of the country as we can possibly get out. we can possibly get out. let me develop those we can possibly get out. let me develop those points. we can possibly get out. let me develop those points. ben - we can possibly get out. let me i develop those points. ben wallace saying earlier as long as the us troops, as long as they are running the airport, kabul airport, troops, as long as they are running the airport, kabulairport, uk troops will stay. this ties in with some of the points theresa may was raising in the debate in the house of commons yesterday.
put in a call, although the government says it would not have made a difference if he did or not. tell us the latest. that is the gist of it. to embellish with a bit more detail, in the big picture, before we get to dominic raab and the whole business of where he was last friday when he was on holiday and what he was doing and what he wasn t doing, is this intense effort now in the uk, as with other countries that have had an involvement in afghanistan, to get their nationals out, and to get out in the context of the uk those who have worked for the british military of the last couple of decades and whose lives and those of their families might be under threat as a result of that. i m coordinating that is clearly difficult, getting those who are entitled to get on an raf plane to the airport in kabul is difficult as well. the government is keen to carry on doing that for as long as is possible, and they hope, ben wallace the defence secretary was