The first of a promised 25,000 refugees to be resettled from Afghanistan touched down in Oxfordshire, as UK troops attempt to repatriate at least 6,000 British personnel and translators from the Middle Eastern country after it fell to Taliban militants last week.
In Kabul airport on Tuesday, Islamists opened fire on a crowd of Afghans trying to flee Taliban rule, with harrowing images showing a young child with a bloodied head being carried by a man while a woman lay wounded in the road.
But in Brize Norton last night, passengers were seen disembarking an RAF Voyager A330 aircraft – with one person wearing a facemask onboard giving photographers on the tarmac a thumbs-up.
Meanwhile, Boris Johnson held a telephone conversation with Joe Biden earlier on Tuesday urging the US President not to throw away the gains of the last 20 years. Downing Street said the Prime Minister also reminded Mr.
Biden of the need to protect the West against terrorism amid a wave of criticism from US media and British and European politicians over the withdrawal.
