LABOUR’S Diane Abbott slammed Tory ministers for being in denial over Afghanistan today, after Dominic Rabb claimed the number of British nationals left behind was in the “low hundreds.”

The Foreign Secretary was also unable to give a definitive figure on how many Afghans Britain had failed to airlift to safety after the Taliban seized power in mid-August.

Mr Raab told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “It’s very difficult to give you a firm figure. I can tell you that for UK nationals, we’ve secured since April over 5,000, and we’re in the low hundreds (remaining).”

After the last British troops left at the weekend, the remaining US forces were flown out of Kabul airport late on Monday as insurgents celebrated on the runway — marking a humiliating end to two decades of occupation.

Mr Raab was forced to deny a Pentagon leak suggesting the US wanted to close a gate to the airport — ahead of last week’s deadly suicide bomb attack there — but kept it open to assist the British evacuation.

Scores of Afghans, 13 US service personnel, two Britons and the child of a British national died in the attack, carried out by Isis-K, an Afghan offshoot of Islamic State.

“We co-ordinated very closely with the US, in particular around the Isis-K threat which we anticipated, [and] it is certainly right to say we got our civilians out of the processing centre by Abbey Gate,” the Esher and Walton MP told Sky News.

“But it is just not true to suggest that other than securing our civilians inside the airport that we were pushing to leave the gate open.”

Ms Abbott, shadow home secretary under former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, told the Morning Star: “It is extraordinary how Tory ministers blame everyone else for their own failures.

“They refuse to accept responsibility for this debacle. Treating Afghan and other asylum-seekers decently is one way they could make partial amends.”

The Taliban is under pressure to respect human rights and provide safe passage for those who wish to escape its rule following the passage of a United Nations Security Council resolution on Monday.

However, the motion effectively acknowledges that it is now up to the regime to decide whether people can leave the country. 

Parliamentary reporter @TrinderMatt