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LONDON: The UK government has been criticized for not learning lessons from its withdrawal from Afghanistan in its failure to extract British citizens trapped in Sudan.

London sent troops to rescue its diplomatic team from the capital Khartoum amid deadly clashes on Sunday, but Alicia Kearns, chair of the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee, said 3,000-4,000 UK nationals remain in Sudan, and 鈥渨ell over 1,000鈥� had requested help leaving the country.

Kearns cited poor communication from the government to UK citizens as proof that sufficient progress had not been made following the Afghanistan withdrawal in August 2021.

鈥淲e have a moral obligation to tell British nationals as soon as possible that (evacuating the diplomatic staff) is the judgment that has been made, because they then need to make their own decisions,鈥� she told the BBC, adding that nationals who had registered with the Foreign Office had received just two automated messages from UK authorities since fighting broke out last week, with limited advice.

鈥淭hat would suggest no lessons have been learned from Afghanistan and I have urged the government to make sure they are communicating regularly with British nationals. The reality is that, unlike other countries, we have thousands (of nationals in Sudan) so perhaps sometimes phoning around is terribly difficult,鈥� she added.

鈥淭he focus now has to move to getting our British nationals out using the one airstrip available for evacuations.

鈥淲e do have Hercules and other aircraft that are capable of landing on land that is not a formal land strip. Some of our Arab partners are using a land convoy and a boat.鈥�

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak held talks with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi on Sunday on international efforts to secure a ceasefire in Sudan.

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly warned that help available for extracting UK nationals from Sudan remains 鈥渆xtremely limited鈥� despite the successful evacuation of diplomatic staff.

He said the only possibility for improving the situation would be a ceasefire agreement between the Sudanese Armed Forces, under the command of Gen. Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, and the Rapid Support Forces led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.

Cleverly added that the mission to rescue embassy staff had been 鈥渃omplex and rapid,鈥� and that 鈥渟pecific threats and violence directed towards diplomats鈥� had prompted the UK to expedite the extraction process.

He said the UK is 鈥渁bsolutely committed to supporting鈥� Britons trapped amid the fighting, but the government is 鈥渟everely limited鈥� in its ability to provide assistance.

Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said all three branches of the UK armed forces had been involved in the diplomatic extraction, using a C-130 Hercules and Airbus A400M transport aircraft.

The chair of the House of Commons Defence Select Committee, Tobias Ellwood, said over 1,000 military personnel had been mobilized for the extraction of UK diplomatic staff, and the government should now move to 鈥減hase two鈥� of extracting Britons.

Those still in Sudan criticized the government鈥檚 response to the crisis. One businessman in Sudan who gave his name as Sam told the BBC that the situation on the ground is 鈥渁 nightmare for those of us left behind,鈥� and that while the evacuation of UK diplomats had given many Britons in the country hope, 鈥渋n the absence of any information from the government this was clearly a solution for diplomats only.鈥�

Another UK citizen, who gave his name as William, told the BBC: 鈥淲e had to basically go private, we鈥檝e had absolutely nothing but nonsense from the government and not even nonsense. We鈥檝e had nothing.

鈥淭he internet鈥檚 just gone out, so we鈥檝e been on 3G all day. And we were all running out of data. And so communication was becoming increasingly difficult.鈥�

William said he and others had sourced a bus to flee to Egypt, but described a 鈥渄icey situation鈥� in Khartoum with 鈥済unfire going off all the time.鈥�

He added: 鈥淲e鈥檙e making quite slow progress but steady progress. So the idea is we continue going for the next two days, up to the Egyptian border, and then we鈥檙e sort of safe.鈥�