A member of the UK Armed ForcesUK Armed Forces bumps his fists with a child as he continues to take part in the evacuation of entitled personnel from Kabul airport, on August 19 -- 22- 2021, in Kabul, Afghanistan in this handout picture obtained by Reuters on 23 August 2021. LONDON, Aug 27 - British forces have closed the final stages of exterminating people from Kabul airport and processing facilities have opened, defence ministry said on Friday.
The effort would now focus on evacuating British nationals and other who have already been cleared to leave and are already at the airport, the ministry said.
No further people would be called forward to the airport for evacuation, it said.
It is with deep regret that not everyone was able to be evacuated during this process, defence minister Ben Wallace said in a statement.
Wallace later told Sky News television that Thursday's attack at the airport, which killed 85 people including 13 soldiers, had not sped up the timetable for ending the evacuation operation of the British Army.
He said that the threat of further attacks would grow as the operation neared its conclusion.
So far, Britain has evacuated more than 13,700 British nationals and Afghans, representing the second biggest airlift by the country's air force after the Berlin Airlift in 1949, the ministry said.