There is still time for the Tories to do right by the hero Afghan pilot – but will they?

Editorial: The government’s moral authority in these matters is fatally undermined by its refusal to honour apparently sincere pledges offered to genuine asylum seekers

The airman fought alongside British and allied forces against the Taliban (Getty)

Nothing better exemplifies the paralysis in Britain’s migration system than the buck-passing, cowardly, callous treatment of the ex-Afghan Air Force pilot whose case has been taken up by The Independent.

He remains in limbo, after finally arriving in the UK on a boat – his only option – last November. He doesn’t know his future, and he is painfully conscious that if returns to his homeland he will almost certainly be tortured and killed by the Taliban.

Even the prime minister hasn’t responded to his pleas for asylum, despite his cause being championed by some of the most senior figures in His Majesty’s forces, the custodians of courage. The pilot, like many other Afghans, fought alongside British and allied forces during that long and pitiless struggle, prepared always to make the ultimate sacrifice. Yet now he sits, waiting and waiting, to see if his fate will be to be sent to Rwanda; or whether another nation that he fought for, the United States, will do the right thing for him and his family.