Hundreds of British troops heading to Afghanistan to save embassy staff from Taliban – World News

As the country teeters on the point of collapse, troops from the UK’s 16th Air Assault Brigade – including Paras, logisticians and medics – will back up 170 personnel already on the ground

Britain is sending 600 troops into Kabul to save more than 2,000 embassy staff and others from the clutches of the Taliban.

Last night the feared militants had advanced to within 95 miles of the Afghan capital.

By yesterday they had taken 11 major cities across the country, including strategically important Ghazni, despite fierce resistance.

Heavy fighting was reported in the Taliban’s former heartland Kandahar, Afghanistan’s second city.

As the country teeters on the point of collapse, troops from the UK’s 16th Air Assault Brigade – including Paras, logisticians and medics – will back up 170 personnel already on the ground.

Defence secretary Ben Wallace said yesterday: “This morning I authorised moving to the next phase of the planned drawdown of forces and personnel.

“That will involve the deploying of British Armed Forces into Afghanistan in order to enable the drawdown and relocation of British embassy personnel.

“The initial elements will deploy by the end of the week.”

The bloody Taliban advance means the UK embassy will close and a skeleton staff will relocate to form another more secure base within the city.

As many as 143 Afghan former interpreters were flown out of Kabul to the UK on Thursday and more than 1500 more are expected to be evacuated to the UK in the coming weeks.

Last night the rapid Taliban advance led to fears that
beleagured Kabul could fall quickly.Meanwhile Pakistani forces clashed with fleeing refugees who massed near the closed off border.

With the last of the U.S.-led international forces set to leave by the end of the month the Taliban now control about two-thirds of the country.

U.S. intelligence fear the Taliban could isolate Kabul in 30 days and possibly take it over within 90. Yesterday the head of Britain’s armed forces General Sir Nick Carter warned a “security vacuum” risks opening up in Afghanistan.

He told the BBC: “We have already a humanitarian tragedy. The question now is whether it gets worse.

“If we end up with a scenario where the state fractures, and you end up with a security vacuum, then there are ideal conditions for international terrorism and extremism to prosper. yet again.”