There is a real threat that our troops are facing and we have to therefore execute this as a military mission, at the same time as being as humane as possible – Armed Forces Minister
London: Armed Forces Minister James Heappey said “right now” there are people trying to board planes to “cause us harm”.
He did not use the word terrorists – but responded in the context of fears a suicide bomber could attack near Kabul Airport.
And it comes after the Mirror reported intelligence agencies are warning of an ISIS infiltration in the capital.
Islamic State in the Khorasan – the regional ISIS branch – is hell-bent on ruining the West’s ceasefire deal with the Taliban, it is understood.
Mr. Heappey was defending the pace of the UK evacuation, which has sped up and removed more than 1,800 people in the last 24 hours.
Asked if there could be a suicide bomber in the vicinity of the airport, Mr. Heappey told BBC Radio 4’s Today program: “Absolutely and that is why – we would love to be able to just open the gates and let people in and even faster flow.
“But there are people right now in Kabul trying to get onto British flights that we have identified in our checks as being on the UK no fly list.
“So the checks that are being done are entirely necessary because there are people trying to take advantage of this process to get into the UK to cause us harm.
“Secondly, there is a real threat that our troops are facing and we have to therefore execute this as a military mission, at the same time as being as humane as possible.”
Meanwhile Mr. Heappey was asked on Times Radio if the militant group should be added to the Government’s list of banned terror organizations.
He replied: “I think that there is every reason to think that they should be, but by the same token they are a group of people with whom we very much need to work with right now.
“Our tactical commanders have struck up a relationship with them on the ground delivering what we need outside the gates of the Baron hotel.
“Believe me, for brigadiers who have spent their careers fighting in Afghanistan against the Taliban, these are some pretty surreal days for them as they now have to talk to Taliban commanders about how they can work together to get people out at the best possible speed.”
A UK government source described calls to proscribe the Taliban as a terror group as pure speculation.
It came as the Defence Secretary said the UK’s evacuation of Afghanistan is now “down to hours not weeks”, and crushed hopes of a major extension to the August 31 deadline.
Boris Johnson will ask President Joe Biden to keep US troops in Kabul Airport for longer than the end of the month to allow allies to rescue more people from the Taliban.
But Mr. Biden has already said he “hopes” he won’t have to extend and the Taliban have claimed the date is a “red line”.
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace admitted “the security situation is precarious”, as the Taliban now “have a vote” on whether to extend the deadline.
Britain has rescued 1,821 people from Afghanistan in the last 24 hours on eight RAF mercy flights. Armed Forces Minister James Heappey said the RAF expects to have a further 9 flights over the next 24 hours to extract thousands more from Kabul against the clock.
But with more than 4,000 planned evacuees to the UK still stuck in Kabul and chaotic, deadly scenes outside the airport gates, Britain will beg US President Joe Biden to extend the deadline for the airlift.
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Courtesy: Mirror, London
