British student claims to be trapped in Afghanistan after going to the warzone on HOLIDAY
British student claims to be ‘trapped in Afghanistan’ after going to the warzone on ‘HOLIDAY’ just as the Taliban started their lightning advance (but is it all an elaborate twisted joke?)
British student, 21, with 4chan account claims he is trapped in AfghanistanMiles Routledge says he has been abandoned by British Embassy in KabulPhysics student has documented account on Twitch and 4chan message board
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A 21-year-old British student with a 4chan account claims that he is trapped in Afghanistan and has accepted he may die there amid the Taliban takeover of the state after going to the warzone on holiday.
He has posted a series of photos of his apparent trip around Afghanistan including his air ticket to Kabul and posing with body armour and a gun that he says belong to UK security personnel.
Miles Routledge, 21, claims he has been abandoned by the British Embassy in Kabul, which he alleges have not responded to any of his phone calls or emails as the Islamist terror group streamed into the capital.
The Loughborough physics student says he is hiding in a United Nations safehouse in Kabul, where about 50 others including Britons, Americans and Turks are also staying, after arriving in the country this week.
In posts to message board site 4chan and livestreaming platform Twitch, Mr Routledge, from Birmingham, claims he was quizzed by armed Taliban militants while on his way to Kabul International Airport.
They apparently asked him where he was from – to which he said Wales. He claims the fighters did not know where Wales was, and let him go. Mr Routledge says he later came across another armed convoy during the Taliban insurgency and took a selfie on one of their gun emplacements.
Miles Routledge, 21, claims he has been abandoned by the British Embassy in Kabul, who he alleges have not responded to any of his phone calls or emails as the Islamist terror group streamed into the capital
Pictured: an image posted to Mr Routledge’s 4chan shows a flight ticket to Kabul
Mr Routledge says he came across two armed convoys during the Taliban insurgency, and took a selfie on one of their gun emplacements
In posts to message board site 4chan and livestreaming platform Twitch, Mr Routledge, from Birmingham, claims he was quizzed by armed Taliban militants while on his way to Kabul International Airport
Harrowing pictures show people waiting near Kabul Airport’s runway to escape from the country’s capital – as the Taliban entered the presidential palace
Taliban fighters take control of Afghan presidential palace after the Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled the country
In a stunning rout, the Taliban seized nearly all of Afghanistan in just over a week, despite the billions of dollars spent by the US and NATO over nearly two decades to build up Afghan security forces
Speaking to the Times, he claims he made the decision to visit Afghanistan after watching tourism videos on YouTube. He says that when the takeover began, he could not refund his flights so chose to travel instead.
Mr Routledge also said he had accepted the possibility that he might die in Afghanistan. In a message addressed to friends on social media, he apparently wrote: ‘I’ve bitten off more than I can chew and something has not gone to plan resulting in this situation.
‘There was no convincing me otherwise and I knew the risks, it was a gamble I took that went wrong despite my confidence and jokes.’
He yesterday told his viewers: ‘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.’
He says that he may be safe because of a £15 joke purchase he made which gives him the right to use the title ‘Lord’, seen on his American Express card.
The student told his followers: ‘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. Let’s hope it won’t get to that stage though.’
MailOnline has contacted the British Foreign Office and the UN for comment.
US-backed Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled the country for Tajikistan, effectively ceding power to the Taliban and bringing the 20-year Western occupation of Afghanistan to an end, while thousands of Afghan nationals rushed to the Pakistan border in a bid to escape Islamist rule.
Mr Ghani said in a Facebook post that he escaped Afghanistan to ‘prevent a flood of bloodshed’, claiming ‘countless patriots would be martyred and the city of Kabul would be destroyed’ if he had remained.
He did not disclose details on his current location.
The Loughborough physics student says he is hiding in a United Nations safehouse in Kabul, where about 50 others including Britons, Americans and Turks are also staying, after arriving in the country this week
Taliban fighters stormed the ancient palace on Sunday and demanded a ‘peaceful transfer of power’ as the capital city descended into chaos
Taliban fighters take control of Afghan presidential palace after the Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled the country
Foreigners in Kabul were told to either leave or register their presence with Taliban administrators, while RAF planes were scrambled to evacuate 6,000 British diplomats, citizens and Afghan translators, and the British Ambassador was moved to a safe place.
The US and French Ambassadors have already been evacuated as the US rushes to rescue more than 10,000 of its citizens.
Italy’s defence ministry said a first military plane would arrive on Sunday to begin ’emergency evacuation’ operations, while Denmark, Norway and Finland are temporarily shutting their Kabul embassies, with Finland to offer asylum to 170 local staff and their families.
However, the Kremlin’s envoy said that there are no plans to evacuate the Russian Embassy in Kabul, as China, Russia, Pakistan and Turkey all appear set to formally recognise the rule of the Sunni extremist group which was created after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
Bagram airbase was also surrendered to the Taliban by Afghan troops, despite the hundreds of billions of dollars spent by the US and NATO to build up Afghan security forces. Upon its takeover, hundreds of Taliban and Islamic State terrorists being held prisoner there were freed.
Commercial flights were later suspended after sporadic gunfire erupted at the airport, according to two senior US military officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing operations.
Evacuations continued on military flights, but the halt to commercial traffic closed off one of the last routes available for Afghans fleeing the country.
As night fell, Taliban fighters deployed across Kabul, taking over abandoned police posts and pledging to maintain law and order during the transition.
Residents reported looting in parts of the city, including in the upscale diplomatic district, and messages circulating on social media advised people to stay inside and lock their gates.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the US decision to withdraw from Afghanistan had ‘accelerated’ the current crisis and announced his government’s priority is to get UK nationals out ‘as fast as we can’ after chairing an emergency Cobra meeting in Downing Street.
He also vowed that the Middle Eastern state must not become a ‘breeding ground for terror’ again.
But he was slammed by Tory MPs – including ex-soldiers Tom Tugendhat, Johnny Mercer and Tobias Ellwood – for presiding over Britain’s ‘biggest single foreign policy disaster’ since Suez and called for UK troops to be redeployed.
They also called the crisis a humiliation for the West.
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab was accused of ‘going AWOL’ after spending the past week on holiday abroad while the Afghanistan crisis unfolded.
The British Foreign Office said he was returning to the UK on Sunday and was ‘personally overseeing’ the department’s response to the situation.
