Afghans Who Served Alongside British Forces Abandon In Pakistan

Charter evacuation flights from Islamabad in November was stopped by the government, and new data shows that only a handful of people who have been approved to come to the UK have been brought here on commercial flights since.

Controversies and outcry surrounding the treatment of Afghans who served alongside British forces has intensified, as today hundreds of men, women, and children eligible to come to the UK have been abandoned in Pakistan. 

Many families have been told they could face waits of up to a year to be brought to safety unless they can source their own place to live, because of a lack of Home Office accommodation. A backlog in processing cases is also causing delays. 

There are currently more than 1,000 people, including 500 children, waiting for relocation in hotels in Pakistan paid for by the British government. While in Pakistan they have no right to work, and children cannot go to school. 

Among those stranded are: 

A former interpreter who was embedded with British troops in Helmand province 

A doctor who says he was detained by the Taliban because of his father’s work with the British 

A former British embassy worker who is living in a hotel with his family of five 

Politicians condemned the situation as “farcical”, while an army chief who fought in Afghanistan said it was “utterly disgraceful”. 

It comes after The Independent revealed that an Afghan pilot who worked with British forces faces deportation to Rwanda after fleeing to the UK in a small boat because there were no safe and legal routes for him to take to seek refuge here. 

When asked in the Commons about the issue of evacuation flights, the minister for veterans’ affairs, Johnny Mercer, admitted: “The flow of people to whom we have responsibility is not working as we would like at the moment.” 

Previously, the British government was using RAF Voyager planes and charter flights to bring Afghans eligible under the Afghan relocation and assistance policy (ARAP) to the UK every two weeks. Most Afghans go to Pakistan when they are confirmed as eligible for the scheme.