The UK Foreign Secretary has angrily denied claims that he was paddle-boarding as Kabul fell, saying that “the sea was closed”.
Dominic Raab has faced calls to resign over his handling of the Afghanistan crisis. The Foreign Secretary has been criticised because he was was on holiday in on the Greek island of Crete when the disaster began to unfold.
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Questioned on Sky News on Wednesday, Raab defended his actions.
He said: “We were focused overwhelmingly on securing the airport and making sure I was engaged in meetings.
“That stuff about me lounging around on the beach or stuff about me paddle-boarding – nonsense.
“The sea was actually closed, it was a red notice.”
“I was focused on the Cobra meetings, the Foreign Office team, the director general, and the international engagement.
“And as a result of the actions of the Government, 9,000 people – British nationals, Afghan workers – were secured back to the UK.”
As the Taliban captured major cities in Afghanistan and the fall of Kabul looked inevitable, Raaab was on holiday at the Amirandes Boutique Resort, a £1000-a-night luxury resort which styles itself as a “sparkling boutique resort for the privileged and perceptive”. He returned on Sunday the 15th of August, the day that Kabul fell to the Taliban.
He has faced criticism for failing to make a phone call to the Afghan foreign ministry about evacuating translators who worked with the British military. A junior minister was tasked with making the call instead. It emerged that nobody had made the call and the Foreign Office said it “was not possible to arrange a call before the Afghan government collapsed”.
