UK foreign minister failed to make a phone call to Afghan counterpart. Now demands of resignation

UK foreign secretary Dominic Raab, who was on holiday in Crete, never reportedly made the phone call, drawing flak from opposition parties and triggering demands of resignation.

British foreign secretary Dominic Raab defended his actions after major opposition parties demanded his resignation for failing to make a crucial phone call to his Afghan counterpart Hanif Atmar as the Taliban advanced on Kabul last week. Raab’s office was advised to call Atmar to urge him to help evacuate local translators who had helped British officials and the military.

Britain's Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab walks outside Downing Street, in London, Britain. (Reuters / File)

But Raab, who was on holiday in Crete, never reportedly made the phone call, drawing flak from opposition parties and triggering demands of resignation.

"While the Foreign Secretary lay on a sun lounger, the Taliban advanced," said Labour party's foreign affairs spokesperson Lisa Nandy. "The foreign secretary should be ashamed and the prime minister has serious questions to answer over why he remains in the job."

Raab, however, hit out at the media reports calling them “inaccurate”. In a statement released on Friday, the UK foreign secretary said the call was delegated to a junior minister since he was “prioritising security and capacity” at the Kabul airport for emergency evacuations. But the Afghan foreign minister was unable to take the call, Raab said, as the situation rapidly deteriorated in Kabul.

“The whole of Government has been working tirelessly over the last week to help as many people evacuate from Afghanistan as possible. The UK Government’s overriding priority has been to secure Kabul airport so that flights can leave,” Raab’s statement read.

The Conservative leader asserted that the government’s approach to “prioritise security at the airport was the right one.” He said 204 British nationals and their families, along with Afghan staff and citizens from other countries were evacuated on August 16 morning, three days after his office received the advice to make the phone call.

“Since then, 1,635 have been evacuated. I pay tribute to the excellent team we have in place, and we continue to prioritise what is required to evacuate people to the UK safely,” he added.