Promised safe haven, our Afghan allies are trapped out in the cold

Editorial: After The Independent revealed that just two out of 1,000 Afghans offered refuge by the UK but stranded in Pakistan have been brought to safety in the past three months, we must ask why this country has let down those it promised to help again and again

Even by the standards of merciful treatment that should be applied to all refugees, Britain’s approach is inhumane, verging on callous (PA)

It is now almost two years since the chaotic evacuation of British forces from Afghanistan, and the subsequent launch of “Operation Warm Welcome”, which was designed to ensure that those Afghan nationals who had fought with British forces and worked with other UK organisations during the long and pitiless conflict would be swiftly granted asylum and generous practical help under the Afghan relocations and assistance policy (Arap).

It has not proved, in practice, to be a very warm welcome.

Although some early arrivals have been given places to stay in the UK, only two Afghans promised safe haven by the British army have been brought over from Pakistan in the three months from March to May, The Independent has revealed. The remainder of the 1,000 Afghans still in limbo and waiting for evacuation to the UK are “living like prisoners”, according to one of their number, and facing deportation to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. Their fate once there may be easily surmised.