A British university student who claimed he jetted out to Afghanistan last week for a holiday says he has been evacuated to safety.

Miles Routledge, 21, faced heavy criticism after bragging he visited the country ‘because it was dangerous’.

The Taliban has since assumed control of all major cities after Afghan president Ashraf Ghani fled.

The University of Loughborough physics student previously said he felt abandoned and had accepted that he might die there.

Budding investment banker Miles posted an update on his Facebook claiming to have been flown to a United Nations safehouse.

He wrote: ‘Got evacuated at 4ish (it’s 2am now) with 100 or so other civilians, couldn’t message as there were cars emitting signals that would set off bombs, it blocked my airpods from connecting so I think it blocked all wifi/data.

‘The Taliban let us go through the airport and we met many of them, very long transition period but everyone was smiling and waving at one another, some took selfies with them.

‘I slept on a dirt/gravel road and woke up as cars went by. We’re in a new safe house and we’re all hydrated, happy and ready for a few hours of sleep.’

He added: ‘On the flight out we aren’t allowed any liquids at all, no razors and only one bag up to 10kg so everyone is tossing all their belongings into a pile, people are donating each other their items because they can’t carry them.

‘Some lads stuffed my body armour and bag with protein bars, over 20 of them. Very happy man rn (right now). Thank you lads.’

Three hours later he wrote: ‘No internet so idk (I don’t know) if this’ll post but I’ve got on a list for Dubai and may be flying within a few hours.’

Metro UK readers reacted angrily to Miles’ bravado, labelling him a ‘typical white collar rich kid adventurer’.

Janett Longworth said his holiday was a ‘classic example of more money than sense’.

Another user accused him of ‘attention-seeking on a monumental scale’, adding: ‘Words fail me!

‘This young man boarded a flight to Kabul on August 13. By that time, city after city was already falling into the clutches of the Taliban. I mean, there’s being adventurous and then there’s being an absolute fruitcake.’

Miles has documented his apparent visit on the social media platform, message board site 4chan and livestreaming platform Twitch.

Before the Taliban takeover, he shared pictures of himself in a local market and with guns at what appeared to be a security check point, and photos of his airline tickets to Kabul to prove to doubters he is in the country.

Around 4,000 British nationals are thought to be stuck in Afghanistan and awaiting repatriation from the UK government after it withdrew troops as the Taliban advanced.  

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has faced calls to make an offer to refugees fleeing the country after the US vowed to take in 30,000 and Canada said it would resettle 20,000.

Metro UK has contacted the Foreign Office for comment.

A spokesperson said yesterday: ‘We are aware of this case and are attempting to reach the individual to offer assistance. We are working hard to contact all the British nationals we are aware of who remain in Afghanistan, to help them leave the country.

‘The safety of British nationals is our top priority which is why we have been urging British nationals to leave Afghanistan by commercial means since 21 April. On 6 August we updated our advice to urge British nationals to leave immediately and to update us on their plans for departure.’

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