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Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: “We owe a debt of gratitude to all those who have worked with us to make Afghanistan a better place over the last 20 years. Many of them, particularly women, are now in urgent need of our help. I am proud that the UK has been able to put in place this route to help them and their families live safely in the UK.”

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said: “We’re working very carefully. We are obviously a big-hearted nation. We’ve got the criteria for asylum, that’s set in law, we work with the UN on that.

“We’re working very carefully on what kind of further commitment we might make.”

Mr Raab also admitted the Government had been taken by surprise by the lightning takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban as US and other allied troops withdrew. 

The Foreign Secretary said “no one” saw the situation in Afghanistan coming and that the UK “would have taken action if we had”.

He added: “The truth is, across the world, people were caught by surprise.

“I haven’t spoken to an international interlocutor, including countries in the region, over the last week, who hasn’t been surprised.”

The new Afghan Citizens’ Resettlement Scheme will protect women and girls from threats of human rights abuses, along with members of religious minorities at risk of persecution under the Islamic emirate planned by Taliban chiefs who took control of Kabul.

The Prime Minister added: “The best solution for everyone is an Afghanistan that works for all Afghans. That means the international community coming together to set firm, political conditions for the country’s future governance.

“And it means focusing our efforts on increasing the resilience of the wider region to prevent a humanitarian emergency.”

Ministers are to review the scheme over the coming months, with a total of 20,000 Afghans expected to come to the UK in the long term.

It will be modelled on the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme, which resettled 20,000 Syrian refugees over a seven-year period from 2014 to 2021.

On top of those figures, around 5,000 interpreters and other Afghans who have assisted British troops in recent years will also be welcomed.

Around 2,500 are already thought to have arrived under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy launched by the Government in April.

British officials are working with the UK’s international partners to identify Afghans most at risk and in need of resettlement.

Mr Johnson is expected to discuss the international refugee effort with fellow world leaders from the G7 group of nations in the next few days.

Mr Johnson will today update MPs on the Government’s response to the crisis in Afghanistan at an emergency sitting of the Commons, recalled from its summer break. He will set out the latest progress on the evacuation of Britons from Kabul in recent days. 

Up to 900 British troops were deployed to assist the airlift operation. Since Saturday, around 520 British nationals, diplomats and former Afghan staff have left Afghanistan on UK military flights. 

In his statement, the Prime Minister will outline the steps he believes Western allies must take to avert a humanitarian catastrophe in Afghanistan.

He will call for an immediate increase in humanitarian aid to the country and region ahead of a longer-term process for supporting vulnerable refugees.

Home Secretary Priti Patel yesterday chaired an emergency meeting of officials from the Five Eyes intelligence partnership, including the US and Australia, to discuss the security situation following the Taliban takeover.

She said: “I want to ensure that as a nation we do everything possible to provide support to the most vulnerable fleeing Afghanistan ‑ so they can start a new life in safety in the UK, away from the tyranny and oppression they now face.

“Our country has a proud history of offering sanctuary to those in need.”

Ministers insist the resettlement scheme will not compromise national security and any refugee arriving will have to pass strict security checks.

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