About 200 members of Afghan special forces, trained and funded by the UK, face imminent deportation to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, the BBC has learned. The soldiers fled to Pakistan, which now says it will expel Afghan refugees.
General Sir Richard Barrons, who served in Afghanistan for over 12 years, told BBC Newsnight that the failure to relocate these soldiers 'is a disgrace, because it reflects that either we're duplicitous as a nation or incompetent'. 'Neither are acceptable,' he said. 'It is a betrayal, and the cost of that betrayal will be people who served with us will die or spend their lives in prison.'
Following the BBC investigation, MPs tabled an Urgent Question in the House of Commons. In 2021, Prime Minister Boris Johnson had told Parliament that the UK would do 'whatever we can' to get 'safe passage' for these forces.
One former commando, 'Ali', told the BBC from a safe house in Pakistan: 'We were together day and night. During training we slept under one tent, eating from the same dish. During operations we fought shoulder-to-shoulder with the British, as members of one family.' He said he felt abandoned and betrayed.
The fears for the commandos come as it was revealed the government also rejected calls to offer asylum to 32 former Afghan civilian leaders who worked with the UK in Helmand Province. The BBC obtained a private letter from March 2022 urging help for these officials, most of whom were rejected under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Programme.
