Scenes of escalating unrest and violence have led to Parliament being recalled this week - as the Taliban headed into Kabul having reclaimed nearly all of Afghanistan 20 years after they last ruled the country.

The takeover has been lightning fast - Taliban fighters took their first provincial capital on August 6 and, 10 days later, they had taken the country's capital Kabul.

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Afghan president Ashraf Ghani fled and thousands of residents are trying to leave any way they can.

At least five people were reportedly killed at the airport on Monday as thousands of Afghans tried to flee. Some tried to cling on to planes, and human remains were reportedly found in the wheel well of one US aircraft, according to the BBC.

As Boris Johnson and MPs head back to Parliament in only the second recall since 2013 - the other being when Prince Philip died - we asked our MPs their thoughts on the unfolding humanitarian crisis, and if they will be heading back to the house today when MPs are recalled from their summer recess.

The recall is a parliamentary procedure involving an extraordinary sitting of Parliament, occurring outside the time when sessions would usually take place - such as over a weekend, or when the parliament would normally be in recess.

%image(15617568, type="article-full", alt="Bim Afolami has said "constituents concerned for family members yet to be repatriated from Afghanistan are welcome to contact me”.")

Hitchin and Harpenden MP Bim Afolami said: “In recent years, British diplomats and non-combat forces have worked extremely hard as part of a multinational effort to build institutional capacity in Afghanistan’s government and security forces.

"There was hope that when we did eventually leave Afghanistan, we would leave behind a functional, safe nation with security for their citizens independent of foreign forces.

"The accelerated advance of the Taliban across the country and into Kabul has extinguished this hope.

"I will be attending the debate in Parliament tomorrow and listening carefully to what the government says.

"I am reassured that the government has committed to evacuating not only British citizens working in Afghanistan, but also for eligible Afghan people and their families who have been valued advisers, administrators and interpreters for the UK and our allies over the years.

"Constituents concerned for family members yet to be repatriated are welcome to contact me.”

%image(15617570, type="article-full", alt="Richard Fuller, MP for North East Bedfordshire")

North East Bedfordshire MP Richard Fuller - who is unable to attend today's debate - added: “Two decades of western support to create an alternative to a Taliban controlled Afghanistan have come to nothing.

"The collapse of those Afghan forces trained and armed to defend a more liberal future has cast millions of Afghans, particularly women, to a more brutal future. Clearly the assessments on resilience of the Afghan forces were wrong.

“China and Russia will likely move swiftly to recognize the new government and draw Afghanistan into their sphere of influence.

“Meanwhile, President Biden, looking bereft and weak, may endorse the view that America should or can no longer be the defender of freedom around the world but instead focus on America first, substituting soft power possibilities for hard power realities.

“That path leads to disaster for the values of freedom and liberty that have been hallmarks of the post-World War Two period for so much of the world.

“The Prime Minister has today been outlining plans to host a virtual meeting of G7 to coordinate an international response, emphasising the importance of the international community working together on the long-term future of Afghanistan to tackle the extremist threat and address the humanitarian emergency there.

“The UK remains committed to Afghanistan – we have provided more than £100 million in aid to Afghanistan this year and are working with our international partners to ensure that we continue to provide humanitarian support to the Afghan people.

"The UK has also resettled 2,000 ex-Afghan staff and their families so far since June 22 and the Home Office is working hard to accelerate checks where possible to resettle more of those eligible, more quickly.”

%image(15617325, type="article-full", alt="Stevenage MP Stephen McPartland")

Stevenage MP Stephen McPartland added: “The tragic events unfolding in Afghanistan are heartbreaking to watch and local people are rightly concerned.

"The difficult reality is that without the USA, we cannot impose a military solution ourselves. The American President has been clear that after 20 years of conflict, they are withdrawing their forces and had agreed this with the Taliban last year.

“Our focus now has to be on extracting British nationals and those who assisted British forces during the last 20 years. With a population of 40 million Afghans, we must do all that we can to persuade the Taliban to respect basic human rights and the rights of women in Afghanistan.

"How we do this is going to be one of the biggest foreign policy challenges facing us going forward, as there are an increasing number of hostile states opposed to our values on freedom and democracy.”

MP Nadine Dorries for Mid Bedfordshire and North East Herts MP Sir Oliver Heald were also contacted for comment.