UK to Resettle Hundreds of Afghan Soldiers Following Review
The Facts
The UK's Labour government said Monday it will allow hundreds of Afghan special forces members who fought alongside British troops to re-settle in the UK, stating that it expects to overturn decisions on roughly a quarter of 2K applications rejected by the previous government.
Following the withdrawal of coalition forces and Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in 2021, the 2K rejected applicants were mostly members of elite Afghan units known as the Triples — units that were set up, funded and run by the UK. Since 2021, reports suggested that a number of these Afghans have been killed by the Taliban, while others are in hiding.
The Spin
The UK's plan to resettle Afghan soldiers who fought the Taliban alongside British troops was a good idea, but was riddled with problems in how it was implemented by the Conservative government. Following an urgent review by Labour, hundreds of cases that were wrongly rejected will soon receive permission to live in the UK.
This review, commissioned by the Conservatives, showed there was never bad intent in why applications were rejected. This brand new process was plagued with communication issues, as well as problems maintaining accurate records across various departments, and that's why some applications were overlooked.
This is nothing but smoke and mirrors from the government. After failing many of the thousands of Afghan people that worked alongside Britain's military, someone, somewhere, took a decision to secretly bring these people to the UK anyway, keeping them at military basis for the time being. Now they're seeking to find legal cover for the operation.
