Britain has started to withdraw its soldiers and diplomats from Afghanistan, with the Ministry of Defiance (MoD) saying the UK's ability to process more civilian evacuations from Afghanistan will now be 'extremely reduced' - meaning as many as 1,250 people, including up to 150 UK nationals, could be left behind.
On Friday night, the MoD said that that 14,543 people had now been extracted from Kabul since August 13, a mix of Afghan and British nationals, and that now the focus would turn to getting diplomats and service personnel out.
Some 8,000 of those were Afghans and their families under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (Arap) scheme, which applies to those who helped the UK and are at risk of persecution by the Taliban.
But the announcement followed warnings that Britain risks the ‘biggest hostage crisis in its history’ by leaving 1,000 Afghan allies to the mercy of the Taliban and Isis-K.
The chilling warning was issued last night as Boris Johnson admitted he felt a ‘great sense of regret’ about the many hundreds that UK forces had been unable to evacuate from Kabul.
Tom Tugendhat, the chair of the Foreign Affairs committee, said the fact people would be left behind filled him with 'anger and shame' and warned 'we may find ourselves with the biggest hostage crisis the UK has ever seen.'
‘Quite rightly, British citizens and entitled persons are literally in fear of their lives right now.’
The former Army Lieutenant Colonel is one of a growing number of MPs from across the political spectrum to have accused the Government of 'failing' in its mission to keep Afghan staff safe by not completing the evacuations.
Mr Tugendhat added: 'Defeat means you don't get a say... we have just been defeated, we have no influence over Kabul anymore.'
And security sources said they feared that elements of the Taliban or Isis-K could capture vulnerable Afghans or UK citizens and demand a ransom.
Former translators and their families reacted with fury after being left behind, accusing the UK of abandoning them to their fate.
Operation Pitting - the name for the evacuation effort - is now drawing to a close. Already the Baron Hotel facility, which was being used to process those leaving the country by British officials, has closed.
The announcement of the end of Operation Pitting comes after the death toll from Thursday's suicide bombing rose to 170, including two British citizens and the child of a British national, as well as 13 U.S. soldiers.
Between 800 and 1,100 Afghans eligible under the Arap scheme who would be left behind, while around 100 and 150 UK nationals will be left in Afghanistan, although Mr Wallace said some of those were staying willingly.
Pictured: Afghan collaborators, their families, Spanish soldiers and members of the embassy board a Spanish military plane as part of their evacuation, at the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, August 27, 2021
Pictured: An Afghan man hands his child to a British Paratrooper assigned to 2nd Battalion, Parachute Regiment while a member of 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division conducts security at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, Aug 26, 2021
Pictured: A view of injured people and dead bodies after an explosion near the Hamid Karzai International Airport, in Kabul, Afghanistan August 26, 2021
British troops were seen securing the perimeter outside the Baron Hotel, near the Abbey Gate in Kabul on Thursday following the bombing
Pictured left: Muhammad Niazi, a British Afghan who travelled there from London to help his family. Pictured right: One of Mr Niazi's daughters. As of last night, his wife, youngest child and eldest daughter were still missing, according to the broadcaster, with his brother and survivor of the blast - Abdul Hamid - saying 'I saw some children in the river'
Prime Minister Boris Johnson spoke of his 'great sense of regret' at those left behind.
He said: 'Of course, as we come down to the final hours of the operation there will sadly be people who haven't got through, people who might qualify.
'What I would say to them is that we will shift heaven and earth to help them get out, we will do whatever we can in the second phase.'
One of the victims of Thursday's Kabul suicide bombing has been named as Muhammad Niazi, a British Afghan who travelled there from London to help his family at the airport, according to the BBC.
As of last night, his wife, youngest child and eldest daughter were still missing, with his brother and survivor of the blast, Abdul Hamid, telling the broadcaster: 'I saw some small children in the river, it was so bad. It was doomsday for us.'
According to The Daily Telegraph, Mr Niazi was a taxi driver from Aldershot who travelled to Afghanistan to rescue his family as the Taliban bore down on the city, and chaos led to scenes of mass panic at the airport.
It is feared that his wife and two of their daughters were also caught up in the bombing, and possibly killed, and the couple's other daughter and only son are understood to have been severely injured, the newspaper reported.
He is understood to have flown from Heathrow to Azerbaijan, before travelling to Afghanistan in an attempt to take his family to safety.
Imran Naizi, a friend and member of the same mosque as Muhammad Niazi (of no relation), told The Telegraph that the Afghan community and Aldershot are mourning the loss of a dedicated family man.
'None of us can believe this has happened. It is such a tragedy,' he said. 'He flew from Heathrow on Wednesday to make the dangerous journey to pick up his family for a better life here and he has been killed along with them. It's unbelievable.'
It is unclear whether Mr Niazi is counted among one of the three British victims reported by the Foreign Office earlier on Friday.
International fury is mounting over U.S. president Joe Biden's decision to withdraw troops from the country, which led to the Taliban's lighting-fast takeover of Afghanistan and in-turn sparked the desperate evacuation, with foreign countries being given a August 31 deadline to get their citizens out.
In the US, the fathers of two of the Marines killed in the bomb attack on Kabul airport on Thursday are blaming Biden for their deaths, saying he turned his back on the troops on the ground with his chaotic evacuation attempt that made them sitting ducks for ISIS-K.
Thirteen US troops were killed along with 170 Afghans at the airport when a single suicide bomber detonated his vest.
Among them were Navy medic Max Soviak, and Marines Hunter Lopez, Rylee McCollum, David Lee Espinoza, Kareem Nikoui, Jared Schmitz, Ryan Knauss, Daegan Page, Taylor Hoover and an unnamed special forces soldier.
McCollum's wrestling coach and a close family friend told DailyMail.com that 'heads should roll' over the debacle.
Ben Arlotta said he is furious at the Biden administration and blames the White House for putting soldiers in an unnecessarily dangerous position.
'It's a junk show, an absolute junk show. Not just for Rylee but for every serviceman and woman over there. They were put in a very terrible spot. In my opinion this entire circumstance has been mismanaged from every level,' he told DailyMail.com.
'The only thing I can hope for is that accountability isn't forgotten. Because for the 13 men who were killed yesterday, heads need to roll for the way things have gone.
Nikoui's father Steve told The Daily Beast on Friday: 'They sent my son over there as a paper pusher and then had the Taliban outside providing security. I blame my own military leaders… Biden turned his back on him. That's it.'
Schmitz's father, meanwhile, said: 'Be afraid of our leadership or lack thereof. Pray every day for the soldiers that are putting their lives at risk, doing what they love which is protecting all of us.'
White House Secretary Jen Psaki did not mince words when asked on Friday about Biden's pledge to track down the terrorists responsible for the deadly attack, saying that the president 'does not want them to live on the earth any more.'
Her remarks came a day after Biden vowed that 'we will hunt you down and make you pay.'
Soviak's sister said in an Instagram post: 'He was a f****** medic. There to help people and now he is gone and my family will never be the same.'
Soviak, believed to be in his early 20s, was named by his high school in Ohio. McCollum was named by his high school in Wyoming while Espinoza, 20, was named by the local police department in Laredo, Texas, where he was born. McCollum was expecting his first child with his wife. He was deployed to Afghanistan in April.
Nikoui's father added that he was relieved when his son signed up as a Marine when Trump was in office because he 'really believed this guy didn't want to send people into harm's way.'
As the Afghan victims of the horrific Kabul airport suicide bombing were being buried, friends and relatives spoke of 'the best and the brightest of their generation being cruelly cut down in their prime.'
The faces of the tragic, mainly young, victims came from all corners of Afghan society, but they all shared a hope for a better life away from the Taliban's rule.
The funerals taking place across the city today ranged from that of a talented young woman journalist to a member of the Afghan national taekwondo team. Several families were devastated by the loss of more than one cousin or sibling, and one family lost four young men.
Afghan TV presenter Muslim Shirzad, 30, who tweeted many of the images of this tragic gallery of smiling victims, said families and friends had contacted him with the sad news.
The announcement of the three deaths came as Pentagon officials in the U.S. said that there was only one suicide bomber involved in the attack, and not two as had been previously claimed, further adding to the fears and confusion over the ongoing evacuation operation on the ground.
Speaking at a briefing on Friday, U.S. Army General Hank Taylor said: 'I can confirm that we do not believe there was a second explosion at or near the Baron hotel. It was one suicide bomber. In the confusion of very dynamic events can cause information to get confused.'
He added: 'We're not sure how that report was provided incorrectly', adding that it was 'important to correct the record.'
The deaths at the airport have caused uproar in the U.S., with the fathers of of at least two of the Marines killed in the bomb attack blaming Biden, saying he turned his back on the troops on the ground with his chaotic evacuation attempt that made them sitting ducks for ISIS-K.
Najma Saddique, 21, from Kabul (pictured left) and her sister Zuhal (right). Ms Saddique was in her third year of a journalism course at the city's university when she was killed in the horrific Kabul airport suicide bombing on Thursday
The Afghan Taekwondo Federation confirmed that Mohammad Jan Soltani (pictured), a member of the national taekwondo team, was killed in a suicide attack in Kabul on Thursday. Pictured right: Wasiq Ehsan, a third-year student in literature and modern languages at Kabul University who also lost his life
U.S. Marine Kareem Nikoui, pictured with his mother, was killed on Thursday. His father said he blames Biden for abandoning them in Kabul
Navy medic Max Soviaks (left), Marine Rylee McCollum (center) and David Lee Espinoza, 20, who were both killed in the ISIS blast at Kabul airport
Jared Schmitz (left) and David Lee Espinoza, 20 (right)
President Joe Biden met with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett in the Oval Office at the White House on Friday. He did not take questions but made a brief statement on Afghanistan, saying it was a 'dangerous but worthy mission'
Pictured: A Taliban fighter stands guard at the site of the August 26 twin suicide bombs, which killed scores of people, at Kabul airport on August 27, 2021
TV presenter Muslim Shirzad told MailOnline: 'The generation which should have been Afghanistan's hope has now become a generation of frustration and escapees.
'Before the Taliban returned, Kabul was like the pulsing heart of Afghanistan's talented new generation, but now it looks like a ghost city
'Despite the threat of violence in Afghanistan, we had the motivation to go forward and be part of change in our country, but now we are just the audience at a horror movie and can't control the outcome.
'The youth of Afghanistan saw what happened two weeks ago as history repeating itself – a history they didn't feel part of and wanted to escape.
'These young people felt they had no choice but to feel from Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, but instead they were cut down in their prime.'
Teenager Mohammad Jan Soltani had fought his way onto the country's national taekwondo team, but was killed in the outrage, according to Svaka News Agency.
Najma Saddique, 21, from Kabul, was in her third year of a journalism course at the city's university, but her poise in front of the camera had already bagged her an on-screen job with one of Afghanistan's morning TV shows.
A friend told MailOnline: 'The idea of a young woman appearing on TV was unthinkable under the Taliban before, but Najma and her sister Zuhal, who is also a journalist, don't remember those days.
'Najma was so hopeless when the Taliban took over in Afghanistan and she decided to try and escape the country with her brother Wasiq, 19, and her cousin.'
The friend said the three wanted to escape to Canada or the United States. 'She just wanted to be safe. It was the third time they'd been to the airport and tried to get out.'
Zuhal, 22, now grieving with her parents and another brother said: 'This has left us without any hope – our family is torn apart.'
Four young men, all members of the same family, named Taher, Naseer, Emran and Bilal, also paid with their lives after joining the crowd of desperate people trying to escape their country.
Abdul Khaber Ibrahimkhail, was a 17-years-old Frisbee enthusiast from Kabul who dreamed of coming to London, according to his elder brother Moner, 27.
'My brother got a passport for the first time three months ago when the situation began to deteriorate,' said Mr Ibrahimkhail, who escaped to Austria a year ago.
'Before that point, he saw a future here and really wanted to be someone in his own country. He was in year 11 and was a member of the Afghanistan Frisbee Federation.
'He went to the airport in the first wave of people with our sister and her husband, who was also injured. My family didn't find my brother's body until the next day.'
The Raheens were another family destroyed by the terrorist atrocity. Dr Khalid Raheen and his sons Milad and Ferdaws Raheen, both in their early 20s, were all killed in the attack.
Wasiq Ehsan was a third-year student in literature and modern languages at Kabul University who also lost his life.
The Raheens were another family destroyed by the terrorist atrocity. Dr Khalid Raheen (pictured top) and his sons Milad and Ferdaws Raheen (pictured bottom), both in their early 20s, were all killed in the attack
Four young men, all members of the same family, named Taher, Naseer, Emran and Bilal, also paid with their lives after joining the crowd of desperate people trying to escape their country. Pictured: A composite image posted to twitter showing the four family members
A Taliban fighter stands guard at the site of the terrorist attack which killed over 100 people outside Kabul airport
The British soldiers are seen securing the perimeter outside the Baron Hotel on Thursday night near a road which leads to the Abbey Gate of Kabul airport
Pictured: Members of Spanish National Police forces and military personnel who were stationed in Afghanistan disembark from the last Spanish evacuation flight, at the Torrejon de Ardoz air base, 30 km from Madrid, on August 27, 2021
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