Britain's Foreign Secretary said he would have liked to have returned from holiday sooner as the Taliban were rapidly advanced on Kabul.
But Dominic Raab rejected reports that he was “lounging on the beach” and insisted he was focused on evacuations and securing Kabul’s airport.
“With hindsight I wouldn’t have gone away at all,” he told the BBC.
Mr Raab faced calls to resign after it was revealed he was on holiday in Greece and returned on August 15, the day the Taliban captured the Afghan capital.
He was also criticised for failing to call his Afghan counterpart to discuss plans to fly interpreters to safety, but he defended his actions.
“The idea that I was lounging on a beach or … paddleboarding in the ocean, I mean, these things are just nonsense," he said. "In fact, the sea wasn’t open because there was a red flag. So, no one was paddleboarding.”
Mr Raab emphasised that the UK had helped more than 9,000 people leave Afghanistan since August 15.
All Nato forces are set to withdraw from Kabul by August 31, effectively ending their capacity to fly people from the airport to safety.
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Hundreds of people arrive at Afghanistan's Hamid Karzai International Airport hoping for a flight out of the country. Reuters -
People desperate to flee Taliban-ruled Afghanistan try and climb over the wall to enter the airport. Reuters -
People wait to board a plane out of Kabul. Reuters -
A girl waits with her parents for Afghan relatives at a processing centre for refugees at the Dulles Expo Centre in Virginia, the US. Reuters -
A US Marine escorts a child back to his family at Hamid Karzai International Airport, Kabul. Reuters -
Mexico's Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard welcomes members of Afghanistan's robotics team after they arrive in Mexico to apply for humanitarian status. Reuters -
US President Joe Biden discusses Afghanistan at the White House in Washington. EPA -
Personal items belonging to people who fled Kabul lie on the ground at Torrejon Military Air Base in Madrid, Spain. Getty Images -
Members of Task Force 1-194 fly to Hamid Karzai International Airport on a C17 Globemaster. Reuters -
Afghan families disembark from a plane at Torrejon Military Air Base in Madrid, Spain. Getty Images -
Afghan children arrive at the Ramstein US Air Base, Germany. AP Photo -
A US soldier plays with Afghan children at the Ramstein US Air Base, Germany. AP Photo -
Young children play with a ball at the Ramstein US Air Base, Germany. AP Photo -
A US soldier entertains Afghan children at the Ramstein US Air Base, Germany. AP Photo -
People prepare to leave Kabul. Reuters -
An Afghan evacuee arrives on a C-17 Globemaster III aircraft at Ali Al Salem Air Base, Kuwait. Reuters
G7 countries say the Taliban must ensure that anyone who wants to leave Afghanistan must be allowed to do so, even after August 31.
“We will use every last remaining hour and day to get everyone we can back, the British nationals, the Afghans who worked so loyally for us, we are getting the Chevening scholars back, also women's rights defenders and journalists,” Mr Raab told Sky News.
“Mono-nationals, so single-nationality UK who have got documentation, the lion's share, almost all of them that want to come out have been brought home.”
Referring to the Taliban, Mr Raab said: “What we have then got to do is test them beyond the withdrawal date, will they still allow safe passage, as they have undertaken, will they allow humanitarian groups the permissive environment to be able to operate?
“So, there is a next stage of engagement, not recognition, engagement with the Taliban, and we will hold them very clearly to the assurances that they are already stating.”
