Stranded British citizen fearing for his life after being beaten by Taliban as he tried to flee

'They are warning me that if they see me next to that checkpoint they will kill us.'

A UK citizen stuck in Afghanistan says he and his newlywed wife were beaten by Taliban guards who stopped them from leaving the country.

The man, whose identity ITV News is not revealing for his own safety, received an email from the Foreign Office instructing him to go to a hotel on Thursday before a flight to the UK.

But as his taxi approached one of three Taliban-run checkpoints on the way to the hotel, guards opened fire on their car and shot dead the driver.

He got out the car to explain he is a foreign citizen and has a right to return home – only for the Taliban to start beating him.

He says they threatened to kill him if he ever came back to the checkpoint.

“My wife came out of the car, she was trying to save me and then they start beating my wife as well,” he told ITV News.

“They are warning me that if they see me next to that checkpoint they will kill us.”

The man travelled to Afghanistan around three weeks ago to get married.

During what should have been their honeymoon period, he says, the Taliban ransacked his home and executed people in the street.

ITV News has heard other reports of the Taliban torturing women in some areas of Afghanistan too.

And he says he is on their “list” because of his previous work with foreign forces.

“If we stay here we will be killed any time because they are targeting those people who are in their list and I was one of them,” he said.

He says the Taliban will remember his face if he tries to go the hotel through the checkpoints.

And they made it clear to him – they will kill him and his wife if he goes back.

He is desperate for more direct help from the British government: “I’ve already emailed the Foreign Office.

“We don’t know… the Foreign Office is only sending us the address which is the hotel and (instruct us) as soon as you can to attend.

“But we cannot because the checkpoints are not letting us go to the hotel.”

A spokesperson for the Foreign Office said: "The government’s top priority is to do all we can to deliver on our obligations to British nationals, and those who have helped us, and get them out as fast as we can."

ITV News has heard from Afghans attempting to get to Kabul airport to flee the country, one woman shared her experience of trying to reach the airport:

The man told ITV News that in the meantime he has no choice but to stay in Afghanistan, where he and his wife are still recovering from their injuries sustained by the Taliban assault.

Boris Johnson has said the UK would have to “manage the consequences” of the American withdrawal from Afghanistan, which continues to be engulfed in chaos as tens of thousands of people wait to be rescued by efforts spearheaded by the US.

The PM said that 1,000 people had been repatriated to the UK on both Thursday and Friday, with most of them UK nationals or those who had assisted British efforts in Afghanistan.

The government announced this week that Britain will take up to 20,000 people wanting to exit Afghanistan as part of its resettlement scheme, with 5,000 due to be accepted in the next 12 months.

That number has been criticised as woefully inadequate.

US President Joe Biden has suggested rescue missions of American citizens must be completed by the scheduled August 31 withdrawal date.