Government could allow 500 elite Afghan soldiers who fought Taliban to settle in Britain

Source: TheTelegraph

4 Comments

  1. **From The Telegraph’s Tim Sigsworth:**

    The Government could allow 500 members of the [Afghan special forces](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/02/01/u-turn-to-allow-afghan-special-forces-soldiers-into-uk/) who fought against the Taliban to settle in Britain.

    Thousands of veterans of the Triples, two elite units which served alongside the British Army, applied to be settled in Britain after the fall of Kabul in 2021.

    Many were turned down because there was no direct evidence for their service.

    In February, the previous Conservative government announced that 2,000 cases were being re-examined.

    Now, after new details revealed payments from the Government to some rejected applicants, 25 per cent of rejections have been reversed.

    [Luke Pollard](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/04/14/exempt-afghans-who-served-in-british-forces-from-rwanda-pla/), a junior defence minister, told the Commons on Monday: “Officials have now confirmed that there is evidence of payments from the UK Government to members of Afghan specialist units… and that for some individuals, this demonstrates a direct employment relationship.”

    He added: “The review is still progressing and each application is considered on its own merits.

    “But on the information available at the moment, we are expecting an overturn rate of approximately 25 per cent.”

    The two units are known as the Triples because their full titles are the Afghan Commando Force 333 and Afghan Territorial Force 444.

    Millions of Afghans, including those who have served alongside the British, fled to Pakistan in the wake of the Taliban’s recapture of the country three years ago.

    However, hundreds of thousands were then told to leave Pakistan after its government cracked down on foreigners in the country without papers, with many [coming under threat](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2021/08/17/pardons-rights-women-will-taliban-live-promises/) once they returned to Afghanistan.

    Mr Pollard said how long the review of the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (Arap) scheme had taken was a “source of deep regret and concern”.

    He said: “Many members [will have concerns of the welfare](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2021/08/19/uk-must-not-abandon-afghan-commandos-run-taliban-say-former/) of former Triples who might be Arap-eligible and still remain at risk.”

    **Article Link:** [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/10/15/government-could-allow-in-500-elite-afghan-soldiers/](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/10/15/government-could-allow-in-500-elite-afghan-soldiers/)

  2. That is great, but now we have to worry about fighting over the remote control with elite Afghan soldiers.

  3. Would be the right thing to do.

    My government (Dutch) shamefully went back on their word a few weeks ago to allow Afghans, who helped our soldiers fighting the Taliban, to immigrate. *After they already had approved* for them to immigrate. Such a nice reward for them doing work that risked their lives to prevent casualties of our own soldiers…

  4. Western governments always do this to their ‘allies’ in foreign theaters of war. The Kurds have been abandoned to Turkey, the same for the Peshmerga in Syria and depending on how you want to look it at, the Ukrainians are also being left to dry.

    Considering the climate in the UK surrounding immigration, this couldn’t have come at a worse time for these soldiers.

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