A terrorist threat against Kabul airport is "very serious" and "imminent", Britain's armed forces minister James Heappey said on Thursday as the UK government warned its citizens to stay away from the area.

"Reporting over the week has become ever more credible. And it is of an imminent and severe threat to life," Heappey told Times Radio.

"This is a very serious threat, very imminent," he said.

The minister confirmed to Sky News that the attack could come in a matter of hours.

The warning come as the UK plans 11 flights out of the airport in the next 24 hours, the minister said, acknowledging that many people have chosen to keep waiting outside the airport regardless.

"There are thousands of people that have ignored that advice," Heappey said.

"We're doing our best to keep those who have not left safe," he added, while saying the UK does not have enough troops on the ground to go into the city and seek to remove the threat.

Late Wednesday, Britain warned its citizens away from Kabul's airport, where huge crowds have gathered hoping to board evacuation flights after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.

"Do not travel to Kabul Hamid Karzai International Airport," the Foreign and Commonwealth Office wrote on its website. "There is an ongoing and high threat of terrorist attack."

"If you are in the area of the airport, move away to a safe location and await further advice," it urged, adding that "if you can leave Afghanistan safely by other means, you should do so immediately".

Washington and its allies have been flying out thousands of Afghans every day on hulking military transport, but it has become an increasingly difficult and desperate task.

Heappey said his advice to British citizens was "to do as the Foreign Office advice instructs and to find a place of safety."

According to the latest data, 11,474 people have been evacuated by the UK since August 13, including 6,946 Afghans.

- 'Failed to prepare' -

Opposition Labour MP Stephen Kinnock slammed the government for failing to plan an organised withdrawal, while praising the work of soldiers and diplomats on the ground.

"It is utterly heartbreaking, and although those brave diplomats and civil servants and soldiers are doing so much, they have been badly let down by their political masters," Kinnock told Sky News.

The MP said the British government "had 18 months to plan for this and have completely failed to make the necessary preparations to have an orderly withdrawal".

Among those still waiting outside the airport is Paul "Pen" Farthing, a former Marine who runs an animal shelter in Kabul, and has chartered a plane to fly out his staff's families and animals, prompting controversy as thousands of desperate Afghans seek to flee the Taliban regime.

He tweeted saying his team and animals are stuck outside the airport and requesting safe passage for his convoy.

Heappey told Sky News that Farthing's request for safe passage for his Afghan staff and animals was another way of asking to be "brought to the front of the queue".

"That doesn't feel the right thing to do," the minister said, while reiterating a statement from Defence Minister Ben Wallace on Wednesday that the UK would seek to facilitate Farthing's chartered plane getting a landing slot.

Turkish troops leave Kabul, abandoning hopes for airport
Ankara (AFP) Aug 25, 2021 - Turkey said Wednesday it had started pulling troops out of Afghanistan, apparently abandoning plans to help secure Kabul's strategic airport.

Ankara had been hoping to gain a foothold in Kabul after the US troop withdrawal is completed on Tuesday.

But the Taliban's swift capture of the Afghan capital left those plans in disarray, eliminating a key point of leverage in its tumultuous relations with the United States.

"The Turkish Armed Forces are returning to our homeland with the pride of successfully fulfilling the tasks entrusted to it," the Turkish defence ministry said in a statement.

Turkey had more than 500 non-combat troops stationed in Afghanistan as part of NATO's now-abandoned mission in the war-torn country.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Ankara was still interested in playing a role in Afghanistan, keeping its lines of communication open with Taliban leaders.

"It is important for Afghanistan to stabilise," Erdogan said as the troop withdrawal was announced.

"Turkey will continue to be in close dialogue with all parties in Afghanistan in line with this goal."

The Turkish defence ministry also left open the option of playing a security role in Kabul down the line.

"Turkey will continue to be with the Afghan people as long at they want," it said, noting the troops had been stationed at the airport for the past six years.

- 'Additional burden' -

Erdogan has been under intense political pressure at home not to accept migrants that might come from Afghanistan in response to the fundamentalist Islamist group's rise.

Turkey became home to more than four million migrants -- most of them from Syria -- under a deal that helped stem the European Union's migrants crisis in 2016.

Ankara is building a wall along its eastern border to Iran to keep out Afghans trying to use the route to enter Europe.

Erdogan said Turkey was now home to roughly five million migrants of various status and could not accept any more.

"We cannot handle an additional burden of migration originating from Syria or Afghanistan," he said.

Foreign Ministry Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Tuesday that Ankara has evacuated 1,404 people from Afghanistan -- 1,061 of them Turkish nationals.

Cavusoglu added that only 200 or so Turks still wanted to get out of Kabul, leaving around 3,000 Turkish nationals who had told embassy officials that they were willing to stay.

The defence ministry said Wednesday that 1,129 people had been evacuated "with its aircraft".

It did not explain why its figures differed from those issued by Cavusoglu.

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US tells citizens to avoid Kabul airport due to 'security threats,'
Washington (AFP) Aug 21, 2021
The United States on Saturday urged its citizens in Afghanistan to avoid traveling to the Kabul airport for now, citing "potential security threats" near its gates. The warning, posted on the website of the US Embassy in Afghanistan and tweeted by the State Department in Washington, provided no detail on the nature of the threat. But conditions outside Hamid Karzai International Airport have been chaotic amid the crush of people hoping to flee the Taliban takeover of the country. As thousand ... read more