Afghans who fought alongside British forces do not deserve to be left to an uncertain fate

Editorial: The Independent has reported numerous cases of those to whom the UK owes a debt of honour, the latest being a female special forces soldier. Why are we still failing to give them the future they are entitled to?

This publication makes no apology for returning to the plight of these brave individuals (PA)

As newer wars increasingly take over the headlines, it is all too easy to neglect the continuing consequences of earlier conflicts in which the UK played a more direct part. Those consequences include the cost in lives lost or blighted in Afghanistan, and the debt that this country owes to those Afghans who fought alongside our troops in a 20-year war.

The Independent makes no apology for returning to the plight of these brave individuals, and in particular to one of the many who, as a result of complex circumstances or bureaucratic oversight, we left behind. The female Afghan special forces soldier we report on today is a mother of four, whose application to be resettled in the UK was rejected and who now finds herself stranded in Turkey and facing a real risk of being expelled back to Afghanistan, where the Taliban hold sway.

The soldier’s situation should prick Britain’s collective conscience on a number of levels. Not least that she served in a unit that was set up and funded by the UK government. It should be clear that the responsibility for her future rests with us.

The soldier was triply threatened in the Taliban’s Afghanistan: as someone serving a foreign power, as someone who took part in what the Taliban saw – and still regards – as enemy operations, and as a woman. Yet her application for resettlement under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (Arap), submitted just two months after the Taliban takeover, was inexplicably turned down. The trite formulae of the rejection, as conveyed to The Independent, only compound the insult perceived as being inflicted by the UK. Where is the humanity here?

There should be no mystery as to why our soldier did not join the massive and disorderly throng at Kabul airport in August 2021. With four children depending on her, the safety of her family came first and she decided to wait out the chaos. With the Taliban strengthening its power and the threat to her and her family growing with each day, she managed to escape with them via Iran to Turkey. The risks in the journey alone were enormous, as they continue to be so long as she must live in Turkey with the threat of deportation hanging over her. Indeed, one of her daughters has served a prison term for trying to support the family by working illegally.

There should be no ifs or buts. We echo the plea made by Colonel Simon Diggins, the former UK defence attache in Kabul, to review her case “quickly and sympathetically”. In this respect, to see Sir Philip Barton, the chief civil servant at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, accompanying the just-appointed foreign secretary, Lord Cameron, from Downing Street to his new job is discouraging. Sir Philip, it may be recalled, was on holiday when the Taliban swept into Kabul, and he remained there as much of the crisis was unfolding. What message does this send to those relying on our help?

Other countries managed this emergency better than we did. The French acted more promptly to get their own citizens and their Afghan helpers out. The Germans arranged for Afghans who helped German forces to reach neighbouring countries to be airlifted from there. Regrettably, the shambles of those days is now replicated in arrangements for accommodating Afghans in the UK today.

Last week, the UK published revised immigration figures for 2022 which showed a net number of 745,000. The number of Afghans so far resettled is given as 24,600, and those who might yet qualify under Arap would represent a small fraction of the overall numbers. Yet there are still Afghans making perilous journeys to reach a place of safety that should rightfully be theirs.

Instead, what they face is this mealy-mouthed response, as given to The Independent by the Ministry of Defence: “The UK government has made an ambitious and generous commitment to help eligible people in Afghanistan... Each Arap application is decided and scrutinised on its own merits.” It is not just the special forces soldier and her family who could see these words less as an explanation than a betrayal.