The final British evacuation flight from Kabul has landed in the UK, marking the end of the UK's 20-year campaign in Afghanistan.
The last of the British troops and diplomatic staff were flown from Kabul yesterday (Saturday 28 August), touching down at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire today (Sunday 29 August).
The final flight out of Kabul draws to a close a two-week operation to evacuate UK nationals an Afghan allies dubbed Operation Pitting.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the UK departure from Afghanistan was 'the culmination of a mission unlike anything we've seen in our lifetimes".
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In a video clip uploaded to Twitter on Sunday morning, Johnson said: "UK troops and officials have worked around the clock to a remorseless deadline in harrowing conditions.
"They have expended all the patience and care and thought they possess to help people in fear for their lives.
"They've seen at first-hand barbaric terrorist attacks on the queues of people they were trying to comfort, as well as on our American friends.
"They didn't flinch. They kept calm. They got on with the job.
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"It's thanks to their colossal exertions that this country has now processed, checked, vetted and airlifted more than 15,000 people to safety in less than two weeks."
Vice-Admiral Ben Key, Chief of Joint Operations, who commands Operation Pitting, said images of the UK service personnel showed how they were 'deeply tired' due to the fact they have 'given their all over the last two weeks'.
He said: "Some of the pictures that have come back in the last few days have painted a really good impression of just how desperate and difficult those conditions have been in the last few weeks.
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"The pictures of them sitting in the aircraft coming back, these are deeply tired people who have given of their all over the last two weeks.
"They have travelled with very little equipment - we didn't allow them to carry much kit - and in many cases they have lived in the clothes they have been wearing for many days.
"They have been sleeping in rough conditions, eating off ration packs and their sole motivation has been to help as many of the Afghans and British entitled personnel as they possibly could.
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"It's been a combination of deep professionalism, considerable courage, really sophisticated judgment and, on occasion, huge compassion, and it's been difficult for those of us back here not to just have the most enormous admiration for what they've done and how they've gone about it."
Featured Image Credit: PA