Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said getting British nationals out of Afghanistan is the top priority, 24NewsHD TV channel reported on Sunday. 

"Our priority is to make sure we deliver on our obligations to UK nationals, to all those who have helped the British effort in Afghanistan over 20 years and to get them out as fast as we can" the British PM said after an emergency Cobra committee meeting.

The British ambassador who remains in Kabul  was working around the clock to do this and has been at the airport processing applications, he said.

He admitted the US decision to pull out of the country had accelerated 'things' in Afghanistan. However, he said, "We've known for a long time this was the way things would go".

The prime minister said he wanted to make sure other like-minded nations did not 'prematurely' recognise the Taliban.

"What we're dealing with now is very likely the advent of a new regime in Kabul. We don't know yet exactly what kind of regime it will be," he added.

Johnson said the UK would work with the UN Security Council and other Nato countries to stop Afghanistan lapsing back into terror' and called for an "international effort" from the West.