A British national claims he is stuck in a UN safehouse in Afghanistan but feels ‘abandoned’ as the country falls to the Taliban.

Miles Routlege, 21, from Birmingham thought it would be safe to visit because the country would not fall for several months.

However, yesterday, Taliban troops rolled into the capital, seizing power and causing president Ashraf Ghani to flee.

Miles, a student at Loughborough University, said he had called the British embassy but feels ignored.

He said: ‘I was fully prepared for death, I accepted it. This trip has been a test of God. I’m very religious so I believe I’ll be looked after.

‘Before I left I wrote a letter to my friends saying that if I died, not to feel guilty, that I would die happy and religious and proud.’

Miles, whose ambition is to visit some of the world’s most dangerous places, claims he was stopped by insurgents near Kabul international airport who asked him where he was from.

He said he told them ‘Wales’ because he didn’t want to say the UK and they didn’t know where that was so let him go.

He also hopes his American Express card, which gives his names as ‘Lord Miles Routledge’, might help keep him safe.

He added: ‘The Taliban may see that as reason enough to keep me alive, thinking it may hold some negotiating power as they’ll think I’m important.’

Before the Taliban took over, he shared pictures of himself in a local market and with guns at what appears to be a security check point.

Miles, told The Times he decided to take the trip after spending the summer working as an intern for a wealth management firm.

He said: ‘I like risk, I’m a banker, so it makes sense. I hate lying around on a beach so I wanted to do something a little bit different.

‘After graduating I’ll have a full-time job and maybe a family so won’t have the opportunity to do things like this again. I thought [Afghanistan] looked quite nice, the food seemed amazing and it was dirt cheap.’

He’s been documenting his apparent visit on the message board site 4chan and livestreaming platform Twitch, including showing pictures of his airline tickets to Kabul to prove doubters he is in the country.

The UK Government is currently trying to rescue the 4,000 British nationals who are thought to be stuck in the country.

Metro.co.uk has contacted the Foreign Office for comment.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at [email protected].

For more stories like this, check our news page.

Source: Read Full Article