Uber driver waving Brit passport in Kabul in bid to escape Taliban rescued on RAF flight – World News

Helmand Khan, from west London, had arrived in Afghanistan with his young children a few months ago to visit relatives. He was flown out along with some 265 Brits and Afghan nationals aboard an RAF C-17 transport plane at the weekend

An Uber driver from west London who was seen waving passports at an embassy building in Kabul is among more than 200 to be flown to safety after escaping the Taliban.

The Ministry of Defence said that a total of 5,725 British and Afghan nationals have been evacuated since the rescue mission first began on August 13.

Among the rescued are 3,100 Afghans, including interpreters who helped UK forces, as well as others eligible under the Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy programme, embassy staff and nationals from partner nations.

One of those to have made it out on an RAF flight on Saturday was Helmand Khan, an Uber driver from west London, who arrived in Afghanistan with his young children a few months ago to visit relatives.

He was flown out along with some 265 Brits and Afghan nationals aboard an RAF C-17 transport plane which left Kabul for RAF Brize Norton at the weekend.

He was previously seen thrusting his British passport at TV crews as he tried to get into a compound where the British Embassy houses evacuees.

He told the BBC at the time: “You’ve seen by British passport, these are my children! I came in the morning, five o’clock, but I’m still waiting. In the last three days I am trying to go inside.”

The Sun reports that he was among the lucky ones to have survived deadly crushes at the airport and made it on to a flight out of the country at the weekend.

Meanwhile, ex-military chiefs have called on the Prime Minister to carry on with the Afghanistan evacuation mission without the US to get every last Brit out of the country.

But the Ministry of Defence has said it would be ‘impractical’ without the partnership and another expert said it was ‘naïve.’

It has been reported that Boris Johnson is expected to use a G7 meeting on Tuesday to urge Joe Biden to extend the evacuation deadline beyond August 31.

In a tweet, he said it was “vital that the international community works together to ensure safe evacuations”.

But the US President signalled on Sunday that he did not want his armed forces to stay in the country beyond August.

Now, ex-military chiefs have said that even if the US pulls out its forces the UK should carry on with the evacuation.

The Sun reports that retired Major General Tim Cross, who served in Iraq and Kosovo, said: “What’s the point of having armed forces if we cannot hold a single airfield? It makes the whole global Britain idea a joke.”

Colonel Richard Kemp, a retired officer who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, said: “We are one of the most powerful military nations in the world.

“We should stay until we have got every last Brit, and everyone we need, out.”

He warned Britain will be left looking “politically weak and militarily weak” by following the Americans to the exit.

A Ministry of Defence spokesman appeared to pour cold water on the idea of staying on to continue the evacuation without support from its major ally.

They said of the US military presence: “Without this partnership, it would be impractical to secure the airport and continue the evacuation mission.”

Others agreed it was a poor idea.

Ex-Army head Lord Richard Dannatt said he could understand ‘why people would want to continue’ but said it would make more sense to leave once the US does.

And security expert Charlie Herbert said of the calls for Brits to stay that it was a ‘wonderful buccaneering attitude but rather naïve.’