Last Team Out of Kabul: Surrounded by the Taliban

H. Collins was a Royal Marine Commando who served in Afghanistan in 2001, Iraq in 2003, and Ramadi and Fallujah, Iraq, in 2005. In 2014, he was back in Afghanistan, providing security for the Japanese Embassy in Kabul. When the chaotic evacuation of the Afghan capital began, he was leading the only security team remaining in a city rapidly filling with Taliban fighters. H and his team spent six days in Kabul, facing a firefight between Afghan government forces and the Taliban and being tailed back from the airport by Taliban fighters.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 272 pages
Publication date: 25 August 2022
Publisher: Ad Lib Publishers Ltd

As a Royal Marine Commando, H. Collins served in Afghanistan in 2001 on combat operations. He took part in the invasion of Iraq in 2003, and returned for a second tour the following year. In 2005, now a private security contractor, he spent five years in Ramadi and Fallujah, Iraq's so-called "triangle of death."

In 2014, H was back in Afghanistan, providing security for the Japanese Embassy in Kabul. In 2021, when the chaotic evacuation of the Afghan capital began, it was a tough call for the Japanese government to leave behind their significant investment in Afghanistan's future. When H finally got the go-ahead to extract the embassy's diplomats and staff, he was leading the only security team remaining in a city rapidly filling with Taliban fighters.

This is an eyewitness account of the final, fraught six days that H and his team spent in Kabul. Their first attempt to reach the airport ran into a firefight between Afghan government forces and the Taliban and had to be aborted to ensure the safety of their Japanese clients.

H decided on a late-night extraction under cover of darkness, following which his small team of twelve men were forced to speed through Taliban-controlled checkpoints in order to get back to their HQ compound, where the remaining ops staff and seventy-two unarmed Ghurka waited.

A live feed from a special forces drone revealed that they had been tailed back from the airport and Taliban fighters were now surrounding the compound. Special forces had also let them know that three of the Taliban who had demanded a meeting in the compound had been wearing suicide vests.

Surrounded by the Taliban, for six days, H and his men manned their defensive positions day and night. H knew that no help would come and the Taliban's intentions were far from clear.

On the sixth day, the Taliban launched a massive assault on the compound, using heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades. H and his men fought back with everything they had, but the odds were stacked against them.

In the end, H and his team were able to escape the compound, but not without losing several men in the process. H was hailed as a hero for his bravery and leadership, but he knew that he had been lucky to make it out alive.

The evacuation of the Japanese Embassy in Kabul was a chaotic and difficult operation, and it highlighted the risks that foreign embassies and their staff face in war-torn countries. H's experience in Kabul was a reminder of the sacrifices that military personnel and private security contractors make in order to keep their clients safe, and it also highlighted the importance of diplomatic efforts to prevent conflicts from escalating into full-scale wars.

Weight: 232g
Dimension: 128 x 198 x 22 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781802471113