Foreign secretary Dominic Raab embarked on a two-day visit to Pakistan on Friday, in an attempt to secure safe passage for Britons and other allies trying to leave Afghanistan.
Mr Raab is likely to hold talks with his Pakistan counterpart Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi, other senior civilians and military leaders.
Pakistan shares a border with Afghanistan and many have flocked to the frontier following the Taliban takeover of the country.
The foreign secretary’s first visit to Pakistan comes shortly after the UK announced aid worth £30m to Afghanistan’s neighbours, which will help finance accommodation and sanitation for refugees still on Afghan soil, three days after US and its troops exited the country and ended its longest war.
Talks over the next two days between UK and regional leaders are likely to cover encouraging Taliban to allow safe passage for refugees and preventing the Taliban-ruled country from becoming a breeding ground for terror activities.
The Foreign Office has already sent officials to help process those crossing the border.
According to the UN Refugee Agency UNHCR, the worst case scenario shows more than 500,000 refugees will flee Afghanistan and head to neighbouring countries like Pakistan, Tajikistan, Iran, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan in the next few months.
Mr Raab, who was in Qatar on Thursday, has been strengthening dialogue with regional allies in south Asia and Middle East in a bid to enable stability during this crisis.
He announced that evacuations from the now-disabled Kabul International Airport may resume in the near future. The foreign secretary also spoke with Tajikistan foreign minister on how the two countries can help maintain stability in the region and tackle the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan.
“It is vital that we help those fleeing Afghanistan and do not allow the crisis there to undermine regional stability,” Mr Raab said, adding that the aid by the UK showed country’s commitment to shoulder “our humanitarian responsibility”.
From the £30 million aid offered by the UK, £10m would be made given to humanitarian organisations in order to despatch supplies to Afghanistan’s borders, Mr Raab said.
The UK has evacuated more than 17,000 people from Afghanistan, including over 5,000 Britons, the foreign secretary said.
Britain is among the western countries that have shifted its Afghanistan embassy from Kabul to the Qatari capital Doha.
