London: According to a report from The Independent, more than 1,000 Afghans who are eligible for resettlement in the UK are still stranded in Pakistan.
According to joint research with Lighthouse Reports, the asylum seekers—mostly individuals who served with UK forces in Afghanistan and their families—have been stranded since the UK stopped using special Royal Air Force flights to fly Afghans out of Pakistan in November.
Due to a lack of safe housing in the UK and significant backlogs in the Home Office's processing of asylum seekers, those who are left may have to wait up to a year before they can travel on commercial flights. They are left in Pakistan with few legal protections, sources of income, and access to education.
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Former interpreters, medical professionals, and embassy staff members are among those stuck, along with at least 500 kids.
At least 4,600 individuals are still stranded in Afghanistan, and the UK government has come under fire after it was revealed that a former Afghan pilot who had served alongside the British Army had been threatened with deportation to Rwanda.
"The flow of people (from Afghanistan) to whom we have responsibility is not working as we would like at the moment," Johnny Mercer, the UK's minister for veterans' affairs, recently told Commons members.
James Heappey, the minister for the armed forces, acknowledged that 63 people who were stranded in Pakistan had been there for more than a year, with some staying for more than 500 days.
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According to the Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy, those who have been identified are eligible to move to the UK; however, the number of people moving since November has drastically decreased, with just 56 people moving between December and February 2023, compared to an average of 385 per month between January and November 2022.
One ex-interpreter who spent more than a year trapped in Pakistan said: "This is my sin that I worked with British forces. We are not safe in Pakistan, and I feel like a prisoner.
"I have no idea what I'm doing. I am anxious. I'll leave this place if they (the UK government) don't respond to me within two months. I'll enter illegally into nations in Europe to reach safety.
Another man is hoping to move in with his parents, who are currently staying in a hotel in the UK. This man is a doctor, and his father was also an interpreter for the British Army.
I spend the entire day in one room, which is comparable to being in jail but without any crimes. I am a licenced physician. I need a job. I'm young. Unfortunately, I'm still here, and England needs doctors," he told The Independent.
Father of five and former employee of the British Embassy who was informed that if he travelled to the UK, he would have to find his own lodging told The Independent: "Unfortunately I have no relatives in the UK. I'm unable to make travel or lodging arrangements there. But they haven't provided us with any other options.
John Healey, the shadow defence secretary, stated: "This is a fundamental violation of our national obligation. Ministers need to address the many problems with their Afghan plan and keep their promise to Afghans of safety, freedom, and the opportunity to contribute to Britain.
"The government's failure to get a grip on ARAP means we now find ourselves in a farcical situation, where people who risked their lives in support of our mission and have been promised safe passage to the UK are having to put in the work and go on a house-hunting mission if they want to get here," said his Labour colleague Dan Jarvis MP, a former soldier in Afghanistan.
Maj. Gen. Charlie Herbert, who served three tours in Afghanistan as well, continued, "It is heartbreaking to think of how they have been treated — many over several years — and to leave them and their families languishing in subpar hotels in Islamabad with little confidence of onward movement to the UK is utterly disgraceful."
"We should have rolled out the red carpet for these brave people who served alongside our troops, but instead we are locking them up like battery hens," said the ageing director of the Free From Fear charity. We cannot put off their evacuation any longer.
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"We owe a debt of gratitude to those interpreters and other staff eligible under the ARAP scheme who worked for, or with, UK forces in Afghanistan," a spokesperson for the UK government said. The UK government has pledged to honour its commitment to accept eligible Afghans and their families as refugees under the ARAP programme.
"By cooperating with a number of partners and nations in the region, we continue to support the migration of qualified individuals out of Afghanistan. We have transferred more than 12,200 people to the UK so far through ARAP.