UK denies pushing to leave Kabul airport gate open before blast

A media report had suggested the US kept Abbey Gate open longer than they wanted to, to allow Britain to evacuate more personnel.

Britain co-ordinated closely with the United States and did not push to keep a gate open at Kabul airport where a suicide bomber killed 13 US troops and an estimated 170 Afghan civilians, British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said on Tuesday. A Politico report on Monday regarding the August 26 attack said American forces decided to keep the Abbey Gate open longer than they wanted to, to allow Britain to continue evacuating personnel. “We got our civilian staff out of the processing centre by Abbey Gate, but it’s just not true to suggest that, other than securing our civilian staff inside the airport, that we were pushing to leave the gate open,” Raab told Sky News.