Brave Afghans deserve better than our shameful, incompetent resettlement programme

Editorial: The government’s Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy has been mired in such inefficiency, it is hard to escape the conclusion that ministers do not want it to work

‘The Independent’ is proud to have campaigned on behalf of the Afghan pilot who fought alongside our forces and who was threatened with deportation to Rwanda (Getty/The Independent)

In the long history of Britain clumsily withdrawing from its responsibilities around the world, Afghanistan has featured more than once.

The Independent supported our most recent mission in the country, which had been harbouring Osama bin Laden. And we recognised that we helped to achieve a great deal, especially for the education of girls and women, even as our forces’ stay became unsustainable.

What is more, we accept that the disorderly exit from Afghanistan two summers ago was primarily the fault of the United States administration, as Joe Biden failed to reverse a bad plan devised by Donald Trump. But since then the United Kingdom has failed to fulfil its duties towards the many Afghans who assisted our armed services.

The Independent is proud to have campaigned on behalf of the Afghan pilot who fought alongside our forces and who was threatened with deportation to Rwanda. We were delighted when he was finally granted refugee status, although the length of time it took to secure a patently just outcome was a disgrace.

Today, we report the embarrassing case of an Afghan refugee who worked as a contractor on a Foreign Office project to prevent violence against women, who has been waiting for 19 months in a hotel in Pakistan before coming to the UK. Having been given approval to come to Britain, he has suddenly been told that this approval was granted in error, and that the UK will cease to support him – in effect abandoning him in Pakistan.

This is only the latest example of confusion and administrative bungling that has characterised our attempt to discharge our obligations towards Afghans who are entitled to look to us for protection. The Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (Arap) has done some good work, but it has been mired in such incompetence that it is hard to escape the conclusion that ministers do not want it to work.

It seems as if they would rather keep Afghans off the scheme and, if they cannot be excluded, keep them in hotels in Pakistan indefinitely. For a government that is trying, for presentational reasons, to clear hotels in the UK of asylum seekers, it would seem that out of sight is out of mind.

Robert Jenrick, the immigration minister, announced today that 50 British hotels will be emptied of asylum seekers by January. Again, appearances matter, and it appeared that he was trying to provide Conservative MPs with some visible “victories” in securing local hotels for use by tourists and wedding parties. At the same time, Mr Jenrick seems to be trying to use the inefficiency of the asylum processing system to create backlogs that will act, he may assume, as a disincentive to further arrivals by small boats.

This is no way to run a resettlement programme for brave Afghans, and it is no way to run a humane asylum policy. A country that takes its responsibilities seriously ought to discharge them promptly, efficiently and compassionately. Rishi Sunak and Mr Jenrick should be ashamed to be presiding over such incompetence, especially when it seems to be part of a cynical policy of making it as difficult as possible for those to whom we owe a responsibility to obtain our protection.