We cannot evacuate unaccompanied children from Afghanistan, says UK Defence Secretary

Britain is unable to evacuate unaccompanied children from Afghanistan, UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said on Thursday when asked about footage that showed a young child being handed over a wall to Western soldiers at Kabul airport.

The footage, which Reuters was unable to immediately verify, showed a small girl being handed over a wall to UK and US soldiers at Kabul airport.

Wallace said the child was passed over the wall as her family was being taken out.

"We can't just take a minor on their own," Wallace told Sky News when asked about the footage.

"You will find as you see in the footage I think you're showing now, the child was taken - that will be because the family will be taken as well.

"It will be the challenge trying to make it through that crowd," Wallace said. "We are finding other ways of dealing with that but that is what's happening."

#UK lawmakers - including former British army officers - launched a scathing attack against UK PM Boris Johnson and his cabinet when parliament was recalled on Wednesday to discuss the situation in #Afghanistanhttps://t.co/1s6pLWjz3a

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Wallace said British soldiers at the airport were facing a difficult situation given the desperation of some Afghans to leave.

"It is very very difficult for those soldiers as you've seen in your own footage, dealing with some desperate, desperate people, many of whom are just wanting to leave the country," Wallace said.

Thousands have gathered at Kabul's Hamid Karzai International Airport following rumours that foreign countries are evacuating people even without visas after the Taliban's takeover. 

A total of 12 people have been killed in and around Kabul's airport, according to Taliban and NATO officials, since the Taliban seized the city.