THE senior British commander on the ground in Kabul has spoken of his soldiers’ resilience in the face of seeing children and women dying in front of them in Afghanistan.

Brigadier James Martin, from Colchester’s 16 Air Assault Brigade, spoke about the UK’s evacuation operation for the first time since returning home.

The final British troops returned from the country at the weekend after helping to rescue more than 15,000 people in two weeks.

Talking to the BBC, Brigadier Martin opened up about what was an “emotional” fortnight.

“There was emotion all through the operations,” he said.

“You can’t see a young child, a baby, a woman, crushed to death in front of you and then you having to deal with the aftermath of that without being emotional.

“But our men and women are incredibly resilient and incredibly professional. The scenes of emotion were saved until after the event, until after they did their duty.

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“When you are dealing with a very large crowd that is fearful, in fear of its life, when women and children are being crushed and yes, dying, in some cases, in your arms, your ability to deal with the situation and change it is very different than when you’re on combat operations.

“But we evacuated more than 15,000 people. I don’t think that’s helpless but you know there’s only so much you can do.

“You know everything outside your sphere of influence is controlled by the Taliban and they have a very different timeline and intent to your own.”

Fellow Para soldier Lieutenant Colonel Dave Middleton told the BBC: “I think it was more chaotic than we perhaps first thought, but then that was the unfolding situation that was presented to ourselves.

“You know, on the airfield in the early few days you had desperate Afghans trying to flee literally running towards aircraft, so that would sort of set the tone for what would follow.”

On August 26, IS-K, the sworn nemesis of the Taliban, successfully orchestrated a suicide bomb to explode at Kabul airport in an effort to derail evacuation efforts.

It is estimated to have killed up to 170 people and was “very close” to the 16 Air Assault Brigade’s troops.

“We weren’t necessarily expecting it exactly when it happened and we didn’t know whether it would manifest,” Brigadier Martin continued.

“It was carnage. When that level of explosion and combination of shrapnel is detonated, there is only one result and that is carnage.

Lieutenant Colonel Middleton added: “You know its kind of an intractable problem trying to find one suicide bomber in a sea of about 20,000 people and really it was just tragic and unfortunate that the explosion took place in the American sector.”

Ongoing negotiations are continuing to ensure the safe passage home of those still left in Afghanistan.