DOMINIC Raab did not make a key phone call to help get translators out of Afghanistan while he was on holiday, it has been revealed.
Senior officials within the Foreign Office said Raab, the Foreign Secretary, was advised on Friday to immediately contact his Afghan counterpart Hanif Atmar as the Taliban took over large parts of the country and advanced on Kabul.
The officials told the Daily Mail that Raab, who was on holiday in Greece during Westminster's summer recess, needed to request urgent assistance in rescuing British translators but the Foreign Secretary was "unavailable".
The call was passed off to Lord Peter Goldsmith, who was the Foreign Office minister on duty, despite officials saying that it was important Raab take the call with Atmar, the Afghan foreign minister.
The Foreign Office said: "The Foreign Secretary was engaged on a range of other calls and this one was delegated to another minister."
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A former translator, a British citizen who gave his name as Rafi to the PA News Agency, said: “If he didn’t make the call, I’m shocked. How could somebody do something like that in this chaotic situation?
“The interpreters and their families could be killed at any time; the Government has bluntly lied to the entire world.
“I’m a British citizen; was he too busy to look after the families of British citizens in Afghanistan?
“He is failing to provide safety and protection to the families of those in Afghanistan who have served for the British Government in the war against terror. If he was too busy during his holidays to help, shame on him.”
The revelation has been met with anger from Labour as shadow foreign secretary Lisa Nandy said Raab should "be ashamed" that the Afghan evacuation was delayed due to his holiday in Crete.
She said: "What could possibly have been more important than safeguarding the legacy of two decades of sacrifice and hard-won victories in Afghanistan? While the Foreign Secretary lay on a sun lounger, the Taliban advanced on Kabul and 20 years of progress was allowed to unravel in a matter of hours.
“The Foreign Secretary should be ashamed and the Prime Minister has serious questions to answer over why he remains in the job.”
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However, UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said a suggested a phone call from Raab on Friday would not have made “any difference whatsoever”.
He told Times Radio: “Last Friday, when we were dealing with this, the problem was not whether ministers in the last Afghan government were getting phone calls, as we saw their remit and their power was almost zilch at that moment in time.
“The problem we faced was whether the airport would be open or not, whether we could get our flights that we’d already been doing – both civilian flights, as you remember, and military – out the country. That was the focus of the Government at the time, and I’m not sure a ministerial phone call at that moment in time would have made any difference whatsoever other than trying to seek reassurance,
“But the reality was, by that stage, the game was up and what we had to do was just keep that airport open and that’s why we flew in soldiers, and that’s what you see today.”
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