'Biden isn't fit for the role - he's gone gaga': Tory MPs join US Republicans in condemning President's Afghanistan 'betrayal' as UK races to get last 2,000 people out in 24 hours - while America BLAMES its citizens for not leaving earlier

The UK Government is now in a race against time to airlift nearly 2,000 Afghan interpreters and other staff who worked for Britain out of Kabul amid a growing backlash at Joe Biden over his decision to stick to his August 31 withdrawal deadline.

The interpreters are understood to have been deemed eligible to come to the UK and have passed security checks but remain on the ground at Kabul airport.

The Pentagon briefed this afternoon that there are currently 10,000 people in total waiting at the airport for a flight out of the capital.

Mr Biden sparked fury yesterday by 'point blank' refusing G7 calls to push back the exit date for US forces, with Washington of the belief that an extension would leave troops at too great a risk of attack from the Taliban or Isis.

His decision has angered some Tory MPs who have questioned Mr Biden's 'intellectual fitness' to do the job, with one backbencher labelling the US President 'gaga'.

Meanwhile, over in the States, Biden also came under fire today from House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy, who accused the Democrat president of 'turning his back' on his duties as commander-in-chief, on American citizens stranded in Afghanistan and on the local allies who helped US troops.

McCarthy criticised the president for walking away from a press conference about Afghanistan last night without taking any questions from the media.

'He turned his back and walked away - an image that has come to define him and his presidency,' he said.

'He turned his back on our own citizens stranded in Afghanistan, he's turned his back on our allies and partners, he's turned his back on his duties as a Commander-in-Chief.'

And Biden could now face more backlash, as his Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, appeared in a press conference tonight to blame Americans still on the ground for not leaving fast enough after first being warned earlier this year to leave Afghanistan.

He said: 'For many years we have urged Americans not to travel there. We've repeatedly asked Americans who are in Afghanistan to enroll (at the embassy in Kabul).

'And since March of this year, we've sent 19 separate messages to American's enrolled in the embassy, encouraging them and then urging them to leave the country. We've even made clear we would pay for their repatriation,' he added.

It comes as last night Mr Biden warned the Taliban that it must 'continue to co-operate' with the US evacuation mission but there are growing fears that a crackdown by the group is already underway.

There are claims from people on the ground in Kabul that Afghans are being prevented by Taliban fighters from accessing the city's airport for evacuation. Yesterday the extremists issued an edict banning nationals from leaving the country. They also blocked roads and set up check-points around Kabul airport.

Meanwhile, video footage emerged showing a bloodied man who claimed to be an Australian citizen who had apparently been beaten by Taliban guards as he tried to reach the airport.

Some 19,000 people were extracted from Kabul yesterday, taking the overall number since the operation began to 88,000, with the UK having brought more than 10,000 individuals - including more than 5,500 Afghans and their families - to Britain.

The Pentagon said evacuations will continue 'all the way to the end' but also warned that in the 'last couple of days' leading up to the withdrawal date 'we will begin to prioritise military capabilities and military resources to move out' in order to end the deployment.

And today Mr Blinken, went one step further, pledging to continue to support Afghans who wished to leave the country even after US troops had been withdrawn.

He admitted up to 1,500 Americans are still trapped in Afghanistan and looking for a way out, including at least 24 students from a California school district.

'While evacuating American is our top priority, we are also committed to getting out as many Afghans at risk as we can, and that starts with our locally employed staff,' he told a press conference in Washington today.

He added there was 'no deadline' on the country's work to evacuate those who are eligible and want to leave Afghanistan, before following up on Mr Biden's warning yesterday of the 'very real possibility' of an attack by terrorist group ISIS K.

Meanwhile, Dominic Raab, the UK's Foreign Secretary, this morning admitted the evacuation mission is in its final stages.

Mr Raab said the UK is working 'as fast as we can' to maximise the number of people who can flee, saying 2,000 were taken to safety in the last 24 hours and almost all single-nationality Britons are now out. He declined to say when the last UK flight will be leaving.

Former chief of the defence staff Lord Richards said he believes even after the last official flight the British military will 'sneak others in who arrive late along with their own people'.

Mr Biden's decision to stick with the withdrawal date has sparked Tory fury, with MP Bob Seely telling MailOnline: 'If this does destroy Biden's presidency, you have to question his fitness for the role.

'You have got to question Trump's moral fitness for the role, but you have got to address Biden's intellectual fitness and health fitness for the role.

'I'm sorry, he is just gaga… he doesn't have a grip. How many slip ups before people think, yep, he can't do the job.'

It comes as:

Dominic Raab admitted the evacuation mission is in its final desperate stages after US president Joe Biden 'point blank' rejected G7 calls for a delay

Biden departs after delivering Afghanistan remarks Tuesday. He did not answer questions from reporters as he left the room. Blinken announced on Wednesday that up to 1,500 Americans - 500 who are verified US citizens - are still stuck in Afghanistan

Biden has committed the US to withdraw by August 31, a decision that western allies warn will mean thousands of Afghans who were promised sanctuary being left behind

Children waiting to be evacuated from Kabul as Western forces race against time to get nationals and allies out

People being taken out of Afghanistan on a Spanish military flight today as the clock runs down on the airlift

Now Taliban fighters 'stop Westerners getting to Kabul airport' after they BANNED Afghans from leaving the country

Westerners in Afghanistan are being 'blocked from getting to Kabul airport' by Taliban fighters after the extremist group banned locals from fleeing the country, according to people on the ground.

The militant group yesterday issued an edict saying only foreigners will be able to access the airport for evacuation.

A spokesperson for the group ordered locals to return home. Roads in the city have been blocked in a bid to stop Afghans from leaving.

In a fresh threat to the west, Zabihullah Mujahid, the Islamists' chief spokesman, also said in a press conference yesterday the group will 'not accept' any extension to the deadline.

But while Mujahid said the foreigners would still be allowed to leave Afghanistan, reports today suggest American citizens are also being refused access to the airport.

Quoting 'multiple sources', Politico's Alex Thompson said: 'The Taliban has now started halting people trying to get in through the airport gates.

'Not just Afghans but American citizens. Informal groups coordinating need to redirect people on the fly.'

There was also panic today as the US embassy reportedly issued a last call for its citizens to leave Afghanistan, only to then recall the warning minutes later.

Today, in a live TV address at the White House, Mr Biden confirmed the US is now 'on pace to finish by August 31'.

He said more than 70,000 people been evacuated since August 14. And he said 12,000 people had been evacuated by western forces in the last 12 hours alone.

However he then turned the spotlight Taliban, who earlier today reiterated their insistence that western troops to leave by the end of this month, saying it was in the hands of the militants to allow the evacuation process to go smoothly.

Speaking during the conference, which he left without answering questions from reporters, President Biden said: 'We (the G7) agreed we would continue our close co-operation to get people out as efficiently and safely as possible.

'We are currently on pace to finish by August 31. The sooner we can finish the better. Each added day brings a risk to our troops.

But the completion by August 31 depends on the Taliban's continued co-operation and allow access to the airport - no disruption to our operations.'

It comes as Taliban spokesman Mujahid said from now on only stranded foreigners will be able to reach the airport in the coming week to board Nato and Western planes.

He said: 'The road to Kabul airport is closed for locals and open to foreigners.'

With an American pull-out now likely to be complete by the end of the month, other countries, such as the UK, which are reliant on the air support from US troops, now face a race against time to complete their own evacuations.

Last night the Pentagon confirmed that several hundred US troops had already started leaving Afghanistan - and allies including the UK will want to have their troops out well before the US leaves.

The Pentagon said on Wednesday that US forces have 'been very clear' with the Taliban 'about what credentials we are willing to accept' for people trying to get to the airport.

'By and large, with caveats' people have been getting through checkpoints, spokesman John Kirby said, adding 'we also have other means to get people in.'

'When we have reports that someone credentialed is not being let in, we are making that clear to Taliban leaders they need to let them in,' Kirby said.

It was also revealed that a military operation recovered 'less than 20 people' from Kabul under cover of darkness and brought them safely to the airport for evacuation.

Members of the GOP - the Republican Party - said on Tuesday night that Biden has 'blood on his hands' because thousands of American citizens and Afghan allies who helped U.S. troops could be left to die when the final evacuation flights depart - which could even be before midnight on Aug. 31 to ensure a safe evacuation of everyone at the airport.

Rep. Seth Moulton, a Democrat from Massachusetts, and Rep. Peter Meijer, a Republican from Michigan, who underwent a secret trip to Kabul to witness the situation at the airport for themselves, challenged President Biden and claimed that 'we won't get everyone out on time'.

McCarthy and a slew of Republicans continued their criticism of Biden today.

The GOP have accused him of letting the Taliban 'call the shots' amid reports westerners and SIV applicants are getting stopped and beaten at checkpoints - despite Pentagon claims they are telling the insurgents who the 'expect' to be let through.

'Joe Biden and his team are letting the Taliban call the shots,' Senator Tom Cotton said on a Fox News radio show Wednesday morning.

His fellow GOP Senator Marco Rubio wrote on Twitter, 'A President that abandons Americans in order to meet a deadline set by a medieval band of terrorists will forever be disgraced.'

Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina criticized Biden's 'disastrous decision' to hold firm on his end-of-the-month deadline on Wednesday morning, which he said was 'cemented by his administration’s prior ill-conceived timeline agreement with the Taliban instead of the conditions on the ground.'

Senator Lindsey Graham, who served with Biden on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the Biden and Taliban-mandated deadline will cost lives.

'How could we create a deadline that is a death sentence to those who fought along our side?' he questioned on Fox radio Wednesday.

'There's nobody to blame but Biden here,' Graham said on Fox radio today, adding the U.S. is leaving 'thousands of Afghans, most likely American citizens, and what we're leaving behind is an Al Qaeda on steroids.'

Today Secretary of State Blinken said officials has been in 'direct contact' with roughly 500 Americans and 'provided specific instructions for how to get to the airport safely.' The State Department said there are roughly 1,000 other people whose status is still being established.

'We're aggressively reaching out to them multiple times a day,' he said of those 1,000 people, adding they're looking 'to determine whether they still want to leave and to get them the most up-to-date information and instructions for them on how to do so.'

'Some may no longer be in the country. Some may have claimed to be Americans but turn out not to be. Some may choose to stay,' Blinken said

'We'll continue to try and identify the status and plans of these people in the coming days.'

The CIA meanwhile has been joining the US military in evacuation efforts, launching clandestine operations to rescue Americans in and outside of Kabul, the Wall Street Journal reports.

It comes as defence sources last night said the UK could now wrap up its mission within '24 to 36 hours'. The UK's Foreign Secretary, Mr Raab, said he was unclear how many people will be left behind in Afghanistan.

McCarthy tore into Biden for walking away from a Tuesday speech without taking questions or mentioning how many Americans were still in Afghanistan

Raab denies he was 'lounging around' on holiday while Kabul fell

Dominic Raab today denied he was 'lounging around on the beach' while Kabul fell as he defended his delayed return to the UK from a luxury break at a five-star resort in Crete.

The Foreign Secretary arrived home on the evening of Sunday August 15 after he opted to work remotely as the situation in Afghanistan deteriorated.

Mr Raab said he was 'engaged from a hotel room, my family was on the beach, not me' and that he 'checked in on them episodically'.

The Tory frontbencher said 'the stuff about me being lounging around on the beach all day is just nonsense' as he insisted the 'sea was actually closed, it was a red notice'.

Mr Raab remains under pressure to quit over his handling of the crisis and this morning he admitted that 'with the benefit of hindsight I wouldn't have gone away'.

The Foreign Secretary said the figure depends on 'the window' left in terms of timing and how many people they manage to process over the next few days.

He told ITV's Good Morning Britain: 'It's also how many want to come, as there are some finely balanced cases.'

Mr Raab said the details of how UK forces will withdraw were still being firmed up. There is speculation the British team will initially withdraw to the airport from the Baron hotel, where they have been processing applications.

The UK contingent is then expected to hand over duties to the Americans, who will be the last to leave.

'The military planners are firming up the details of what the extra – the time they will need at the end to drawdown their own staff, personnel and equipment. We will get the details of that I'm sure, shortly,' Mr Raab said.

'We need to get that clear from the military planners, they are obviously working on that. Ideally we want to limit the period that they need for their drawdown to maximise the period for the civilian airlift, if you like. But that is something that they will need to provide the details on.'

Mr Raab tried to play down concerns about the Taliban obstructing extractions, saying that although trust was at 'rock bottom' there had been 'constructive' engagement.

'They have, so far, in relation to the airport, behaved constructively and engaged constructively more or less.

'There's clearly reports and some of the people on the ground – roadblocks or elsewhere – are not following what the political leadership are requiring. But overall, one of the reasons that we have been able to get the numbers out through the evacuation is because we have engaged and they have lived up to some of the things that they have said.

Hundreds of people are still gathering at checkpoints outside Hamid Karzai International Airport looking for a chance to escape after the Taliban announced that Afghan civilians would no longer be allowed to leave on the US-led mission

The Pentagon said a plane left the Kabul airport 'every 39 minutes' in the most recent update on evacuation numbers

Furious row breaks out over Kabul animal rescue flight as MoD denies claims from wildlife campaigners that PM’s wife played role

A furious row has tonight broken out over an animal rescue flight from Kabul amid claims the Prime Minister's wife intervened to help get approval for the emergency airlift.

Boris Johnson is believed to have personally overruled his Defence Secretary's desire to prioritise human over animal evacuations for Afghanistan.

Ben Wallace had been adamant that the Ministry of Defence would prioritise 'people over pets' as the Government scrambles to evacuate thousands of British nationals trapped at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul - which fell under Taliban control last week.

But Mr Johnson is said to have overruled the policy following a 'huge' swell of public support calling Royal Marine turned charity boss Paul 'Pen' Farthing get 200 cats and dogs out of Kabul - where he runs an animal welfare centre.

Today animal rights campaigner Dominic Dyer, a friend of Mr Farthing, founder of the charity Nowzad, told MailPlus that the u-turn followed an intervention from the Prime Minister's wife Carrie Johnson - a keen supporter of animal welfare issues.

But the claim was quickly dismissed by the Ministry of Defence, with a spokesperson reportedly telling Sky News that they were a 'lie'.

It comes after a Sky News video showed a Vauxhall hatchback entering a military cargo jet prompted a counter-blast from animal rights activists including comic Ricky Gervais and actor Peter Egan, who accused the Ministry of Defence of caring more about a car than 'sentient animals'.

The Defence Secretary then announced in a flurry of tweets at 1.30am this morning that officials would allow Mr Farthing to leave on the chartered flight if he arrived at the airport with his staff and animals.

The U-turn is likely to raise questions about the extent to which Mr Johnson is personally managing the evacuation, and the role his wife - an animal rights advocate who also encouraged the Prime Minister to pursue his green agenda - is playing in the Afghanistan crisis.

'We need to then set further tests for them and be very clear about what we are willing to do, if and only if they live up to their assurances.'

Mr Raab also declined to comment on whether British troops would return to Afghanistan in the future.

'I'm not going to speculate on that while we're in the middle of withdrawals,' he said.

'The United Kingdom retains the right to exercise self-defence in relation to our nationals in our country. We're not getting into speculating about that.'

After the setback for the alliance with the US, Mr Raab suggested the UK is looking to 'broaden the group of like-minded countries' trying to rein in Taliban extremism in future.

He told Times Radio: 'I've been speaking to China, Pakistan, India and we'll be trying to convene meetings of the permanent members of the Security Council to agree the contours for the way forward.

'In terms of the leaders, we will use all the leaders at our disposal. Sanctions potentially, access to the international financial institutions… If they (the Taliban) want aid going into Afghanistan, it won't go through the Taliban, they'll have to provide a permissive environment for NGOs (non-governmental organisations) and the UN.'

There were grim reports of the growing tensions at the airport today, with one British businessman referred to as Shafiullah telling The Times he had been beaten by the Taliban and sworn at by British soldier.

'In the space of a few hours, after a ten-hour wait without water, I was beaten by the Taliban and told to f*** off by the British army,' the Bromley businessman in his forties said. 'We are desperate here... We know the clock is counting down to the last flights. There's too little time left to evacuate us all.'

It comes after Mr Johnson yesterday faced humiliation with Mr Biden shrugging off his pleas to extend the Kabul evacuation.

The Prime Minister, along with Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel, had used a G7 meeting to urge the US President to keep the operation going longer.

But Mr Biden reportedly rejected the request 'point blank'. 'Mr Biden made clear that it wasn't a runner,' a senior government source reportedly told The Telegraph last night.

White House sources said Mr Biden had agreed with the Pentagon that there would be no change to the timeline of the mission. Press secretary Jen Psaki said the Pentagon was 'on pace' to withdraw by the deadline.

And Mr Biden later confirmed this in a TV address at the White House last night, saying the US was now 'on pace to finish by August 31'.

Mr Biden yesterday said more than 70,000 people been evacuated since August 14. And he said 12,000 people had been evacuated by western forces in the last 12 hours alone.

A man claiming to be an Australian citizen was beaten bloody by Taliban guards at a checkpoint in Kabul today, after the Taliban vowed to block any more people from going to the airport

Afghan Army commander tears into Biden for saying his soldiers gave up

Maj Gen Sami Sadat wrote a blistering essay on how politicians in Kabul and Washington failed in the fight against the Taliban as he defended his troops against attacks that they did not fight

An Afghan Army commander accused President Joe Biden of 'disrespect and disloyalty' for saying that his troops did not put up a fight against the Taliban, in a blistering essay published on Wednesday, that concluded the war was doomed when the president announced his withdrawal.

Sami Sadat described how he was a three-star general in the Afghan Army, commander of 215 Maiwand Corps, and led 15,000 men in combat losing hundreds of officers against the Taliban in southwestern Afghanistan.

'It’s true that the Afghan Army lost its will to fight,' he wrote in the New York Times.

'But that’s because of the growing sense of abandonment by our American partners and the disrespect and disloyalty reflected in Biden’s tone and words over the past few months.

'The Afghan Army is not without blame. It had its problems — cronyism, bureaucracy — but we ultimately stopped fighting because our partners already had.

'It pains me to see Mr. Biden and Western officials are blaming the Afghan Army for collapsing without mentioning the underlying reasons that happened.'

In all, Afghan armed forces lost 66,000 people in 20 years of fighting, he said.

The Taliban swept into Kabul 10 days ago after a lightning advance across the country.

Elders negotiated deals in towns and cities as government politicians and troops faced what they believed was inevitable defeat.

Sadat said: 'It was in response to those scenes that Mr. Biden said on Aug. 16 that the Afghan forces collapsed, “sometimes without trying to fight.”

'But we fought, bravely, until the end. We lost 66,000 troops over the past 20 years; that’s one-fifth of our estimated fighting force.'

Western leaders have said they were taken by surprise and Biden has repeatedly shifted blame to Afghan forces.

'American troops cannot and should not be fighting in a war and dying in a war that Afghan forces are not willing to fight for themselves,' as he tried to defend the withdrawal after Kabul had been taken.

His comments triggered fury among U.S. veterans who helped train and advise government troops.

And in an essay dripping with dignified fury, Sadat said it was not his troops that were at fault but politicians in both Kabul and Washington.

He laid blame with the corrupt government of President Ashraf Ghani as well as those of President Donald Trump and Biden.

However the President turned the spotlight on the Taliban, who last night reiterated their insistence that western troops to leave by the end of this month, saying it was down to militants to allow the evacuation process to go smoothly.

He said the completion of operations in Kabul 'depends upon the Taliban continuing to cooperate', adding there will be contingency plans to 'adjust the timetable should that become necessary'.

'We are currently on pace to finish by August 31. The sooner we can finish the better. Each added day brings a risk to our troops.

'But the completion by August 31 depends on the Taliban's continued co-operation and allow access to the airport - no disruption to our operations.'

He said the added risk came from a 'very real' threat from terrorist group ISIS K - a self-proclaimed branch of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant active in parts of Afghanistan.

It comes as a humiliated Mr Johnson said after the G7 summit that the UK will continue to conduct airlifts from the country 'right up until the last moment' as he pleaded with the Taliban to let people leave after the deadline.

He said the leaders had agreed that the 'number one condition' that the Taliban must meet moving forward is to 'guarantee right the way through August 31 and beyond safe passage for those who want to come out'.

But last night UK defence sources reportedly told the Guardian that the UK operation could be closed down within '24-36 hours'.

It is understood that the US military needs between two and three days to close down its operations at Kabul airport.

And UK troops will have to be 24 hours ahead of that, in order to get Afghans and then themselves out safely before US troops depart.

Meanwhile, Conservative MPs said the US's decision to turn their back on the UK's pleas mean the 'special relationship' was now over.

One Tory MP told the Guardian that US-UK relations were 'about to enter their lowest point since Suez'.

Tory MP Colonel Bob Stewart said he did not believe that the Afghan episode would do lasting damage to the Special Relationship between US and UK forces.

But the backbencher - who served in Bosnia - warned that it was more evidence of the UK's inability to act independently.

'Let's be quite clear, parliament and the British public have reduced the armed forces of this country to very very small players, and we cannot do things,' he told MailOnline.

'We should be paying at least 3 per cent of gross national product on defence.

'People say ''why don't we do more?'' Well, we can't do more. We haven't got the resources to do more, because they have all gone.

'We don't have the capacity to do more than ally with a stronger military power.'

He added: 'You cannot have your cake and eat it. People are saying we should be protecting more people, but at the same time they are cutting our armed forces.'

Despite the setback, Mr Johnson insisted the G7 nations have 'huge leverage' over the Taliban because of the threat of sanctions as he said funding for the country would only be made available in the future if it meets the West's expectations.

'If those huge funds are going to be unfrozen eventually for use by the government and people of Afghanistan then what we are saying is Afghanistan can't lurch back into becoming a breeding ground of terror, Afghanistan can't become a narco state,' he said.

The comments came after the Taliban repeating blood-curdling warnings of consequences if there was an attempt to cling on, saying no-one will be permitted to leave.

'All people should be removed prior to that date,' a spokesman told a press conference in the capital.

'After that we do not allow them. We will take a different stance.'

Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, co-founder and head of the political office of the Taliban - Held for eight years in Pakistani prison before being released on orders from the U.S. government

Pictured: Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, co-founder and deputy leader of the Taliban, makes a video statement on August 16 following the fall of Kabul

Age: 53 years old

Taliban Rank: Co-founder, head of political office

Joined: 1994

Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, one of the co-founders of the Taliban, was freed from jail in Pakistan three years ago at the request of the U.S. government.

Just nine months ago, he posed for pictures with Donald Trump's Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to sign a peace deal in Doha which today lies in tatters.

On Sunday, his forces seized Kabul and he is now tipped to become Afghanistan's next leader in a reversal of fortune which humiliates Washington.

While Haibatullah Akhundzada is the Taliban's overall leader, Baradar is head of its political office and one of the most recognisable faces of the chiefs who have been involved in peace talks in Qatar.

His name Baradar means 'brother', a title which was conferred by Taliban founder Mullah Omar himself as a mark of affection.

The 53-year-old was deputy leader under ex-chief Mullah Mohammed Omar, whose support for Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden led to the US-led invasion of Afghanistan after 9/11.

Baradar arrived in Kandahar Province on Tuesday, landing in the insurgent group's former capital just days after they took control of the country.

A Taliban spokesman said on Twitter that Baradar and a high level delegation 'reached their beloved country in the afternoon' from Qatar.

Born in Uruzgan province in 1968, Baradar was raised in Kandahar, the birthplace of the Taliban movement. He fought with the mujahideen against the Soviets in the 1980s until they were driven out in 1989.

Afterwards, Afghanistan was gripped by a blood civil war between rival warlords and Baradar set up an Islamic school in Kandahar with his former commander Mohammed Omar.

The two mullahs helped to found the Taliban movement, an ideology which embraced hardline orthodoxy and strived for the creation of an Islamic Emirate.

Fuelled by zealotry, hatred of greedy warlords and with financial backing from Pakistan's secret services, the Taliban seized power in 1996 after conquering provincial capitals before marching on Kabul, just as they have in recent months.

Baradar had a number of different roles during the Taliban's five-year reign and was the deputy defence minister when the US invaded in 2001.

He went into hiding but remained active in the Taliban's leadership in exile.

In September 2020, Baradar was pictured with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo who 'urged the Taliban to seize this opportunity to forge a political settlement and reach a comprehensive and permanent ceasefire,' the US said in a statement

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