London: The last remaining United Kingdom troops began landing back from Kabul in Britain on Sunday, ending the country’s 20-year military campaign in Afghanistan where the Taliban have seized power.
A Royal Air Force (RAF) plane left Kabul airport on Saturday night and arrived at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, including with UK ambassador to Afghanistan Sir Laurie Bristow.
Vice-Admiral Sir Ben Key, who ran the UK’s evacuation dubbed Operation Pitting, said there was a “sense of sadness that we haven’t done all we would have wished”.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the end of Operation Pitting was the “culmination of a mission unlike anything we’ve seen in our lifetimes”.