Tourist "tired but glad to be out," as thousands still wait for flights. Photo / Supplied, 4Chan
Tourist "tired but glad to be out," as thousands still wait for flights. Photo / Supplied, 4Chan
A 21-year-old tourist has shared the story of how he was evacuated from Afghanistan on a mercy flight from Kabul Airport.
Miles Routledge from Loughborough claims to have arrived on 13 August via one of the last commercial routes into the country for a high-risk holiday. His departure with TurkishAirlines was ticketed for 19 August, but on 15 August the city was overrun by Taliban, leaving him trapped.
Last week the UK Foreign Office confirmed that they were aware of the plight of the tourist as one of 4000 UK nationals thought to be in Kabul.
"There was no convincing me otherwise and I knew the risks, it was a gamble I took that went wrong," Routledge told The Times last Monday. However, he said he had "no regrets".
By Wednesday the tourist revealed he had made it out of the country, after spending four nights on embassy floors.
He was "tired but glad to be out," he told Business Insider.
Miles Routledge's inopportune trip to Afghanistan caught the attention of social media last week. Photo / Supplied, 4Chan
Having been sheltered in a UN safe house by Turkish and UK forces, Routledge told Insider magazine he found it very difficult to get consular assistance. Multiple embassies had already closed. Eventually he says it was the Canadian embassy which took him in.
"We were told to abandon the safe house, there was no way we'd get there without that as we were outnumbered by the Taliban," he told Insider.
"They [the Taliban] promised us safe transport if we gave up the weapons, so we did and they escorted us out."
He described the strangely amicable moment the embassy surrendered to the Taliban.
"It was weird, some people were taking selfies with them [the Taliban], shaking their hand and smiling," he said.
Routeledge shared his visa and boarding pass as evidence of his trip to Kabul. Photo / Supplied
"The evacuation took ages and was very up in the air, we waited for a few hours on a dirt road for a car to pick us up, so I and many others just slept on the gravel. I used my helmet and my baggage as a pillow."
Having made it to the airport Routledge says he was flown to Dubai on Tuesday aboard a British military carrier.
"I didn't see any Afghan people on the plane," he told Insider.
The flight was full of charity and consular workers - all civil servants and international embassy staff.
As for the soldiers and evacuated workers, he said they were "in good spirits" . "Like myself … they were tired but glad to be out," he said.
The 21-year-old was blasted for visiting the country at a time of instability.
Even those who claim to know the Loughborough University student personally say that his behaviour was "sociopathic" and that he was "a massive attention-seeker."
However he says that he had been influenced by social media celebrities who had made recent trips to Afghanistan.
"I saw several famous YouTubers post their trips there, they showed the cheap amazing food, the nature, the people and how safe it is."
"I know I won't have ten days free until I'm 40 or maybe retirement age so this was my last chance to visit somewhere I feel like is misunderstood," he said.
In the lead up to the collapse social media was full of provocatively titled videos such as: "Solo Female Traveller in Afghanistan (What is Kabul Like)" and "I'm Back in AFGHANISTAN (Exploring KABUL)" by Canadian travel vloggers Yes Theory and Drew Binsky.
Most videos showed a country that seemed remarkably stable, and not on the edge of revolution.
"Plus every intelligence agency said it would be 30-plus days until Kabul fell," he said. "I thought it was in my risk tolerance."
Currently the airlift to evacuate foreign nationals and Afghans who fear Taliban reprisals is ongoing. So far the air bridge, overseen by US Major General Hank Taylor says it has evacuated 37,000 people since 14 August.
Yesterday the first 16 Afghan evacuees arrived in New Zealand.
The US led evacuation was issued an ultimatum to leave the country by the end of the month.
In spite of many Nato countries saying that they need more time to complete the evacuation, the BBC report senior Taliban leadership say there will be "consequences" of breaching the 31 August deadline.
