Boris Johnson has said the "lion's share" of people eligible have been airlifted from Kabul airport – despite scores of Afghans still desperately trying to flee the Taliban.
The Government has said there are 11 more evacuation flights from Afghanistan to the UK scheduled within the next 24 hours, as the rescue effort draws to a close.
The Prime Minister told broadcasters that the vast majority of eligible people had secured safe passage out of the country, but recognised “there will be people who still need help”.
Around 15,000 people have been rescue via Kabul airport so far, the PM said. The UK and US have told Afghans desperate to flee the Taliban to now head for the border.
“In the time we have left, which may be – as I’m sure everybody can appreciate – quite short, we’ll do everything we can to get everybody else,” the PM said.
The PM said the next challenge would be to help Afghan refugees “integrate into our society”.
Speaking to broadcasters about the evacuees, he said: "We owe them a debt. They're people who looked after our armed forces, helped for the 20 years of the UK engagement, it's absolutely the right thing to do.
"We've got the overwhelming majority of those to whom we owe that debt out of Afghanistan."
He added: “The real job now is to make sure they have the housing, they have the skills, they have the opportunities to integrate into our society.
“As you know, our labour market… it currently offers many opportunities, but we must make sure that they’re ready, and that’s another whole job.”
It came as Armed Forces Minister James Heappey said there were "credible" reports that UK soldiers may face a "highly lethal" terror attack with "hours" at Kabul airport.
Last night Defence Secretary Ben Wallace told MPs any stranded Afghans who'd not yet been called to the airport should head for the border instead.
Heappey told Sky News: "There is now very, very credible reporting of an imminent attack."
He added: "The credibility of the reporting has now reached the stage where we believe that there is a very imminent, highly lethal attack possible within Kabul."
The PM was asked about the terror threat and told broadcasters: “I think we have to be transparent about the risks, that we have to be realistic about what’s going on, and you’ll appreciate that there are Islamic State Khorasan province (Isis-K) terrorists out there.
“I can’t go into the details, clearly. But we have to be mindful of the security of our personnel, but also of the Afghan people who are trying to get out.”
Colonel Richard Kemp, former head of British forces in Afghanistan, said the threat of a terrorist attack at Kabul airport “has existed right the way from when this evacuation began”.
“That threat of terrorist attack, whether it’s from Taliban, the Islamic State, or al Qaida, it could equally be all three of those groups,” he told BBC Breakfast.
“The fact that people are talking about Islamic State doesn’t make that the most likely threat.
“I think that threat has existed right the way from when this evacuation began, and I have no doubt that our forces are fully aware of the threat and already, for days now, have been taking measures to try and mitigate it, to prevent something like that happening.
“But, clearly, there could be a terrorist attack of some sort against the forces in the airport, maybe forces outside the airport, and of course the people trying to get in.”
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab and Home Secretary Priti Patel are understood to be in contact with Pakistan officials to enable transport for any Britons or Afghans eligible to settle in the UK via that third country.
Former Foreign Secretary David Miliband, meanwhile, has said many Afghans are scared that the withdrawal of troops from the country will also mean humanitarian aid workers will not be able to help millions of those in need.
The chief executive of the International Rescue Committee said: “I think that it’s a desperate situation for humanitarian aid workers in Afghanistan at the moment. There’s also an invisible crisis which is also desperate.
“That’s a crisis of tens of millions of Afghans who need humanitarian aid, who need to be served by the humanitarian aid community who are desperately worried that the military withdrawal on the 31st of August will not just mean the end of the possibility of people to leave who need to do so but also will signal a humanitarian aid withdrawal, a diplomatic withdrawal, a political withdrawal that will leave them at the mercy of not just political events but of a collapsing economy, of Covid running rampant, of drought in 80% of the country.”
