‘We owe a duty of care’ to Afghans fleeing Taliban, Conservative MP says

Despite the defence secretary saying that in some cases going to a third country would be “a better option”, we understand there is no longer a process allowing people who entered Pakistan illegally after 5 November to apply for legal status – something the Foreign Office says it is working with the Pakistan government to address.

The Foreign Office also says it will continue doing all it can to secure safe passage to help British nationals and eligible Afghans to leave the country.

We spoke to MP Tom Tugendhat, chair of the Commons Foreign Affairs committee. In the light of our report about Jan and his family, we asked Mr Tugendhat if he thought it was absurd that they were denied help by the British embassy because they had missed that November deadline.