LABOUR said the Tory government had serious questions to answer today after documents identifying Afghan workers and job applicants were found on the floor of the British diplomatic mission in Kabul.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said “clearly it’s not good enough” that the sensitive documents were not secured as the embassy was abandoned during the Taliban’s takeover.

Mr Wallace also admitted that Britain’s evacuation mission from the Afghan capital was rapidly coming to an end, with between eight and nine additional flights set to evacuate only the about 1,000 eligible people who remained inside Kabul international airport.

He said it meant that about 800 to 1,100 eligible Afghans would be left behind, as well as approximately 100 to 150 British nationals, some of whom he said were staying willingly.

Mr Wallace said that the threat of attack will only “grow the closer we get to leaving,” with the capital still reeling after two blasts on Thursday which are thought to have killed more than 160 people.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson will be inquiring as to how the embassy papers were left unsecured for the Taliban to come across, Mr Wallace said.

The Commons foreign affairs select committee is set to launch an inquiry after a Times journalist found the documents containing contact details of seven Afghans.

The papers, discovered while the reporter was on a tour with a Taliban patrol through the city’s abandoned diplomatic quarter on Tuesday, included the name and address of a senior embassy staff member, other employees and their contact details, and the CVs and addresses of applicants for interpreter jobs.

Among the staff members listed who had not been evacuated at that time were three Afghan employees and eight family members, including five children, who were caught in the crowds at Kabul airport and were unable to access the British-controlled section of the facility.

They were eventually found and rescued, but the fate of at least two job applicants whose details were abandoned at the embassy remained unknown.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) acknowledged the apparent error but said that staff had tried to destroy sensitive material before leaving the embassy.

Labour’s shadow foreign secretary Lisa Nandy said her Tory counterpart Dominic Raab will have serious questions to answer when he sits before the foreign affairs select committee next week, pointing out that ministers had 18 months to prepare for the Afghan exit.

“The destruction of sensitive materials and the safe evacuation of the embassy should have been a top priority,” she said.

“The government must urgently assess the individuals who have been exposed by this breach, whether ongoing British operations have been compromised and what other sensitive materials may have fallen into the hands of those who wish to do us harm.”

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer pushed the government to recognise that its failure to plan and inability to influence others had contributed to the crisis.

He said it must work quickly to deliver a strategy to get the thousands left behind out of Afghanistan, and to work with the UN to deliver essential aid.

Stop the War vice-chairman Chris Nineham said the withdrawal had been shambolic and that the discovery of the documents was just the latest example of the chaos. 

“The striking thing is that no-one saw this crisis coming and that is because they believe their own fantasies about humanitarian interventionism,” he told the Morning Star.

“They can’t understand the basic fact that bombing and shooting won’t bring progress or freedom anywhere.”

More than 160 people, including children, were confirmed dead following the two suicide bombings on Thursday that targeted the thousands of people desperately trying to flee the Taliban takeover.

Two officials said that 169 Afghans died but that a final count might take time, with many bodies dismembered or not yet identified.

Three British nationals – including a child – 13 US troops and Afghan civilians were among those killed.

President Joe Biden said the United States would hunt down the people behind the attack.

“We will rescue the Americans, we will get our Afghan allies out, and our mission will go on,” he claimed.

Several European countries have now announced the end of their evacuation plans.

Images of chaos and desperation following the attacks showed people standing knee-deep in sewage and families pushing documents and young children towards US troops behind razor wire.

More people hoping to flee arrived at the airport today, including Jamshad, his wife and three young children.

“After the explosion, I decided I would try because I am afraid now there will be more attacks,” he said.

And Ahmadullah Herawi said that while going to the airport was risky, they had few choices.

“Believe me, I think that an explosion will happen any second or minute, God is my witness, but we have lots of challenges in our lives,” he said.

“That is why we take the risk to come here and we overcome fear.”

The United Nations refugee agency said that half a million people or more could flee the country over land borders in the coming months.

Taliban leaders have asked Turkey for help in operating Kabul international airport, but Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that a decision will only be made when the administration in Afghanistan is clear.