The Duke of Cambridge knew the officer from Sandhurst
Prince William personally stepped in to help an Afghan officer and his family escape Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover.
The royal heard that the former cadet, who he knew from their time together at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, was trapped in Kabul and asked his equerry to contact personnel in the region.
Following William’s intervention, the officer and his family were able to get into Kabul airport and board a flight to the UK.
According to the Telegraph, the officer is thought to have served in the Afghan army and worked closely with British forces, making him and his family, particularly at risk after the Taliban seized control on August 15.
The officer and his family had all been eligible to leave the country but had struggled to board a flight due to the chaos in and around Kabul airport that culminated in two Isis-K bombing attacks last week.
Former paratrooper Major Andrew Fox described the Duke’s actions as “fully in line with what we get taught in the Army in terms of values.”
He told the newspaper: “I myself got 2 Para to rush out into the crowd and grab someone for me.
“It’s fully in line with what we get taught in the Army in terms of values, loyalty, respect for others, all that good stuff. We’re trained to help where we can.
“The situation was so chaotic and was so, frankly, mismanaged, that people would do whatever they could to get out.”
General Sir Richard Barrons, who was head of the UK Joint Forces Command, said that many veterans had done the same thing.
He said: “It’s an entirely reasonable thing to do. What none of us did was demand that anybody be on the first plane out. We simply made sure that they were registered in the system.”
As part of the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy, more than 8,000 former Afghan staff and their families have been evacuated to the UK since August 13.
In total, more than 15,000 people have been evacuated to the UK from Afghanistan but it is thought thousands more, who helped British forces over the last two decades, were left behind.
Related links:
British ex-soldier arrested by Taliban while trying to evacuate 400 Afghans
Afghans who worked with British army will be able to remain in UK indefinitely
Afghan refugees will have £39.63 a week to live on in the UK
