Didn't Push To Leave Kabul Airport Gate Open Before Blast, Britain Clarifies

British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said Britain had taken mitigating action, including warning people not to come to the airport.

Britain co-ordinated closely with the United States and did not push to keep a gate open at Kabul airport where a suicide bomber killed 13 U.S. troops and scores of Afghan civilians, British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said on Tuesday. A Politico report on Monday said American forces decided to keep the Abbey Gate open longer than they wanted to allow Britain to continue evacuating personnel. "We got our civilian staff out of the processing centre by Abbey Gate, but it's just not true to suggest that, other than securing our civilian staff inside the airport, that we were pushing to leave the gate open," Raab told Sky News. He said Britain had taken mitigating action, including warning people not to come to the airport.