The Defence Secretary has tonight confirmed the decision in line with the US and other NATO allies to withdraw the remaining UK service personnel from Afghanistan beginning next month. In addition to the safety of those troops and other Britons in the country, some of whom are ex-service, the news brings even greater urgency to the need to process applications and extract Afghans who worked for UK forces and their families. The Sulha Alliance campaign about this.

.@SulhaNetwork @DefenceHQ With this news, we need a step-change in scale and pace in how we process and extract our former interpreters and other LES. https://t.co/ozENHmTugN

— Simon Diggins (@SimonLeoDiggins) April 14, 2021