Approximately 4,500 Afghans are still waiting for the UK to decide on their entry into the country as they fear for their lives in Afghanistan after cooperating at some point with British forces during the invasion of the Central Asian country, according to a House of Commons committee report released Friday.
Among these thousands of Afghans are interpreters and contractors theoretically qualified to enter the UK by meeting the criteria of the so-called Afghanistan Relocation and Assistance Policy (ARAP).
Of the 4,600 Afghans trained, some have already found refuge in another country, but many remain trapped in their homeland and fearful that the Taliban will ignore the alleged amnesty for international collaborators declared by the fundamentalists themselves after their return to power in August 2021.
Moreover, the report by the committee led by Conservative MP Tobias Ellwood notes that there are currently 72,269 ongoing applications from Afghans seeking asylum in the UK in these circumstances, although a «vast majority» do not meet the conditions of ARAP and will have their claim rejected, according to a response from the British Ministry of Defence.
The committee has confirmed that at least 6,600 Afghans have already been admitted to the country through this program but has been quick to point out numerous problems affecting the 4,500 or so who are still waiting. The panel cites a «lack of preparation» for the large number of applications, which has led to «delays in processing requests and errors in decision making».
These problems are causing a high degree of stress among applicants, compounded by a lack of communication with the relevant authorities as local MPs are inundated with letters from the UK relatives of affected Afghans, who are demanding a solution.
Moreover, associations campaigning for the accommodation of Afghan collaborators, such as the Sulha Alliance, report that the British Home Office is rejecting requests previously approved by the Ministry of Defense, an expression of the tension between the two portfolios, especially in the wake of the tightening of British immigration laws intended by the British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, and the Home Secretary, Suella Braverman.
In a statement reported by the Guardian, the alliance denounces an «unstructured approach» to a crisis that has literally left former Afghan collaborators and their families out in the cold because some of them had even sold their homes in the hope of an immediate removal to the United Kingdom, which has never taken place.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
