Afghanistan: The struggle to secure sanctuary for refugees

While many have found sanctuary in Wales, many are still desperately trying to secure escape for those who want to leave Afghanistan, Kelsey Redmore reports.

As the last of the US troops left Afghanistan late last night, there are fears now that it will be more difficult to secure escape for people desperate to leave the country.

Arefa Shafaei arrived on UK soil last week from Afghanistan and will soon start a degree at Swansea University.

She was afraid she would never get out of the country and had to pass many checkpoints manned by the Taliban on her journey.

Arefa was allowed to bring her sister with her but she says she is scared for the rest of her family who have been left behind and are now in hiding.

"In the morning, I wake up and I cry, at night when I go to sleep, I'm crying. Every morning, I'm calling my family in Afghanistan...every time I'm praying that I do not hear any bad news regarding my family ...I wish I could do something for my family, for my friends, for my people."

Gary Clifford is one of those in Wales trying to help a number of families in Afghanistan.

The three men he has been in contact with are worried about what will happen to them and their loved ones.

"They've obviously been scared for their lives, purely because they've held such high positions in office out in that country...they're all telling me that they are literally being hunted now for who they are and what they've done in their country."

Gary says he is concerned about their futures but feels powerless to help them.

"What I'd like to see happen to help the three families that I'm trying to help is to try and get them to a safe country. Obviously, the UK and the US and various other countries around the world, if they could advocate that there is a passage of safety through Afghanistan through one of the neighbouring countries, that would be ideal."

Meanwhile the Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab told ITV News that the number of Britons left in the country was down to "low hundreds", but he conceded the number of Afghan allies still there could be a lot higher.

It comes as the evacuations from Taliban-controlled Afghanistan were completed by the UK over the weekend.