London: According to The Independent, the UK is refusing to provide sanctuary to Afghans who have worked for the UK military and are in danger of Taliban retaliation attacks.

The newspaper's investigation into Britain's relocation policies for Afghan military personnel who assisted UK forces led to the revelations.

The Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy scheme rejects former mechanics, labourers, and chefs because they cannot be considered to have served in frontline roles alongside British troops, according to a recent report from The Independent. 

Also Read: Flood-hit Pakistanis have yet to receive the promised rebuild

The Taliban rulers in Afghanistan, however, do not understand this distinction, and as a result, former employees and contractors who worked for British forces are targeted in retaliation attacks.

The head of the defence select committee, Tobias Ellwood MP, issued a warning that the Taliban were still looking for Afghan labourers who supported Western forces.

I don't think the Taliban adhere to the same standards, he declared. They gained access to databases of all Afghan citizens who were aiding ISAF forces, and the local Taliban are still looking for them to be killed. Every case needs to be evaluated on its own merits.

Some of the Afghans who participated in the UK war effort and left Afghanistan after the Taliban took power have pleaded with the government to aid their former coworkers who are still stranded there.

However, according to James Heappey, minister of the armed forces, the government has no plans to include former non-frontline employees and contractors in the ARAP criteria.

After being turned down by the programme last year, an Afghan mechanic who had serviced troop carriers and armoured cars during the conflict is now challenging the outcome in court.

When British troops left the country, he lost his job and went on to work for NGOs and as a contractor for private military forces.

However, after the Taliban took control, the man was compelled to go into hiding, and his former coworkers demanded that the UK provide him with asylum under the ARAP programme.

Also Read: Bangladeshi female pilgrims applaud Saudi Arabia's "special care" for them

We are trying to do our best for him and his family, but he is in a very bad situation, said the mechanic's former British Army adviser and coworker to The Independent. Since many people are aware that he worked with the British Army, many people are going missing, and he is constantly hiding himself.

"Many individuals in the same circumstance applied for ARAP. I don't understand why ARAP rejected his case so quickly.

The mechanic's attorney, Stephanie Alban, who is appealing the ruling, stated: "I thought they would deal with it in days and not weeks because his life is in danger. He has been running away from the Taliban while he is in hiding.

"The local populace would be aware that he worked for the British. They will search for and target him because he is on their radar. These workers have the impression of having been abandoned. You shouldn't need to go through judicial reviews in order to receive a straightforward case's simple decision.

Other Afghan personnel who were turned down by the ARAP programme claimed that even though they were not serving in frontline combat roles, they were still in danger and at risk.

An ex-guard who defended a camp for the British Army claimed that he was fired upon during a terrorist attack on the base, but the UK still rejected him because of his guarding duties.

He has received threats from both the Taliban and Daesh, which has a negligible presence in Afghanistan, since the Western withdrawal.

In order to protect his family from retaliation attacks, the former guard has relocated his family to new homes across the nation.

"Security at the camp was vital to ensure the safety of the British and other NATO soldiers in the camp," the man stated in a review of his ARAP application.

As a result, without security officers like myself, the camp and the military operations conducted there could not have run smoothly.

The Independent also interviewed former British Army chefs and labourers as well as relatives of military personnel who had ARAP applications denied.
After the withdrawal of the Western forces, one interpreter claimed that his brother, a former labourer, had fled into hiding to avoid the Taliban.

"He shares my risk," I said. The fact that he was a labourer and not an interpreter is not obvious from his face. The Taliban saw us as being all the same because we were all cooperating with the British Army.

Also Read: Federal watchdog: Far too many people in New York City are unlawfully stopped, searched, and frisked

In 2020, one of our other brothers was already murdered in front of our house. He was assisting the American and British soldiers when he was shot by them.

"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 in exposed roles," a spokesperson for the Ministry of Defence said.

"Supporting the migration of qualified individuals out of Afghanistan is our top priority, and to date, we have relocated over 12,200 people to the UK under ARAP.