What will happen to those left in Kabul?

The Afghan evacuation is feared to be entering its final hours, and with it a new desperation is building among people trying to get out of the country and those helping them. On the ground, troops are warning that Kabul airport could be overrun by people who are ineligible to leave but desperate to do so nonetheless. Embassy workers are trying to process visas, ministers are being bombarded with requests to look at cases where vulnerable Afghans have been overlooked or cannot make it to the airport safely.

Boris Johnson chose yesterday to focus on the importance of securing ‘safe passage’ for Afghans who still want to leave after 31 August, along with a rather impotent-sounding commitment from the G7 leaders to ensure that the Taliban sticks to its obligations under human rights law.