Afghan interpreters rejected for resettlement fear death after UK exit

AJ has been scared to leave his home in Kabul for months – he fears the Taliban want him and his family dead.

Now in his early 30s, he is one of hundreds of Afghans who worked with British forces as interpreters and support staff, and who may now be targeted by the militants as a result. They fear the risk will only increase when foreign forces pull out this year.

But AJ (who cannot reveal his name for fear of being attacked) has been repeatedly rejected for resettlement under UK government schemes to help interpreters such as himself and their families resettle in the UK.

British officials say he was dismissed for smoking in his accommodation. Interpreters who were fired are not eligible for resettlement.

AJ says that he was not told that he was being dismissed when he stopped working with the army, and is incredulous at the justification for blocking his move to the UK.

“It cannot be that serious that it can cost me my life,” he says. “I know that I am in real danger. I can’t even take up a job. I don’t go to public spaces.”

Dismissals ‘for HR management’
Some 1,010 interpreters – one in three – were dismissed by the British between 2001 and 2014 for “disciplinary reasons” without the right to appeal, government figures show.

But retired Colonel Simon Diggins, formerly the British attaché in Kabul and now a campaigner for Afghan interpreters, says many of those dismissals were for trivial reasons.

“Whilst some of those who were dismissed did things that were disgraceful, there were a very large number of people who were dismissed for very minor or administrative issues,” he told the BBC.

“There is a suspicion that the dismissals were used for HR management. There is very little evidence for why people were dismissed. What we’re asking for is that their cases are all reviewed.”

The Ministry of Defence says it strongly rejects the idea dismissals were used “administratively”.

Agencies