Ben Wallace on airlifting Brits and Afghans out of Kabul

There is “not any likelihood” of the UK staying on in Afghanistan when the US leaves, the British defence secretary has said.

Ben Wallace explained the loss of 6,000 American staff in Kabul would “take away from the framework” so British staff would have to leave as well.

He warned “we have to exploit every minute” to get people out of Kabul as the window to help them was down to “hours now, not weeks”.

He declined to speculate on how many people would get out before Western forces left.