Thread by @haynesdeborah

NEW: Brigadier Dan Blanchford, commander in charge of UK evacuation mission from Kabul says the operation is now airlifting around 2,000 people per day to safety, with more than 10,000 Afghans and UK nationals rescued from the country since it started

The UK mission - Operation Pitting - has also evacuated people from 38 other countries to safety at the request of their respective governments, the brigadier said, speaking from the airport in the Afghan capital

With the deadline of 31 August for exit of all US-led troops looming, Brigadier Blanchford said: "We continue to redouble our efforts... to identify those that are most vulnerable & most at risk & find ways to bring them onto the airport so we can process them and get them out"

Talking about the evacuation operation - described as the UK's biggest in living memory - the officer in charge said: "It was certainly very difficult to start with as we faced a very rapid change in the security environment here with the Taliban move onto Kabul."

But things have since improved with British troops - more than 1,000 in total - setting up infrastructure to be able to process passengers and get them onto aircraft. Brigadier Blanchford said soldiers are working around the clock

He described horrors evacuees have endured to escape: "Conditions on the ground remain v difficult at the moment with harrowing stories of families & individuals having to fight through some pretty desperate conditions to get to the airport"
There've been "heart-breaking scenes"