Inside the chaotic hell of Afghanistan evacuation shown in new C4 documentary
The full picture of the fears of the armed forces trying to evacuate during chaotic scenes in Afghanistan will be highlighted in a new Channel 4 documentary series.
The Taliban seized power in a lightning offensive across the Central Asia country in August 2021 as US and Nato troops were in the final weeks of their withdrawal from the country after two decades of war.
In a three-part Channel 4 series titled Evacuation, British military personnel open up about their experience of assisting thousands of British passport holders, embassy staff and vulnerable Afghans during Operation Pitting.
But at one stage 19-year-old recruits trying to implement government policy about who should be allowed into the UK with very little guidance.
In a three-part Channel 4 series titled Evacuation, British military personnel open up about their experience of assisting thousands of British passport holders (MOD/AFP via Getty Images)A sergeant major identified only as Gaz, tells the programme: "The scheme was live, so somebody could’ve had the thing on the phone saying they’re entitled, I’ve got a printout and they’re not on it, but he’s got his email, so… we had to adapt. It would be 'right, lads, be sensible, if you’re unsure, err on the side of compassion.” Not… not everybody’s entitled to go, but, you know, let’s, you know, let’s get the people out that would need to go get out.
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"You’re under quite vague… vague terms. You have British foreign policy being dictated by a 19-year-old Lance Corporal at the front gate of the Baron Hotel."
Diana Bird, a Royal Air Force Police squadron leader, said that, after terrified Afghans breached the fences of Kabul International Airport, she feared for her safety.
LCpl Mitchell, giving his view on the Afghanistan war, said: "I just think that place is failed (MOD/AFP via Getty Images)"The runway has people all over it, so nothing can take off or land that is big," she said.
"The Taliban are surrounding the airport, so we aren't driving out. There is nowhere to go, the country has fallen.
"I really thought, I may not be going home. This may have been a trip too far."
With many of her team on their first overseas mission and not yet into their 20s, she described how she "basically took a sixth-form field trip to Kabul".
The operation saw members of the armed forces evacuate more than 15,000 people (AP)Ms Bird recalled being brought to tears as Afghan women, who said they had received threatening letters from the Taliban, "begged for their lives" to be allowed on a repatriation flight.
She had to explain to them that "they did not meet our criteria to be helped".
"You absolutely feel for each and every one of these people. But we couldn't save everybody," she said.
The operation saw members of the armed forces, along with Border Force and Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office staff, evacuate more than 15,000 people to the UK in just over sixteen days.
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Evacuation will begin airing on Channel 4 on Sunday July 2 (AFP via Getty Images)As the Taliban encircled Kabul, one lieutenant colonel from UK Joint Force Headquarters, named only as Mike during the documentary, described the "surreal" experience of emptying bottles of wine and champagne at the British Embassy in the capital - a collection which was said to belong to the then-ambassador to Afghanistan, Sir Laurie Bristow.
He said he also chiselled the royal crest off the outside of the building.
After the final civilian flights left Kabul, attention turned to destroying British military vehicles and other kit left behind to prevent the Taliban from using them.
Gaz recalled that "billions of pounds of equipment" was left on site after the troops flew home.
A number of those interviewed said the evacuation made them question Britain's involvement in the two-decade effort in Afghanistan.
Some 456 British personnel lost their lives during the conflict and UK governments spent more than £22 billion on the deployment since the September 11, 2001, Islamist terror attack on the US sparked an allied invasion the following month.
LCpl Mitchell, giving his view on the Afghanistan war, said: "I just think that place is failed.
"If we were going to do that (evacuate), we should have done it 20 odd years ago.... Let the Taliban take over and just have it, basically.
"I just think we should have done that in the beginning if that is what we were going to do.
"A lot of us would have been saved as well. But I'm not a politician."
- Evacuation will begin airing on Channel 4 on Sunday July 2
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