Afghans who fought alongside British forces are being beaten, tortured and executed by the Taliban as they wait to hear if they can relocate to the UK.
At least four have been murdered, one is missing presumed dead and two have been tortured as the Taliban extracts a brutal revenge on those who helped the West over two decades of conflict.
Among the dead is a former member of Afghan Special Forces named as being at risk in a letter to then Prime Minister Boris Johnson and senior ministers in 2021 pleading for ex-interpreters and soldiers who fought beside UK troops not to be left behind to face the Taliban’s brutal backlash.
Those hunted down are among hundreds of Afghans who worked with or for British troops still stranded – many waiting to hear if they will be granted sanctuary 21-months after Western troops left Kabul.
New UK government figures show that there are still 61,907 cases yet to receive an eligibility decision although officials believe the vast majority will not qualify to come to Britain under the flagship Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy.
Ex-interpreter Nazir (far right) waits in fear for a decision from the UK over relocation
Pictured is Ahmadzai, one of the members of Afghan Special Forces killed by the Taliban last month while waiting to hear if he can relocate
The government estimates 4,300 ‘eligible’ Afghans, including family members, are entitled to sanctuary in Britain but most are unable to escape from the country, with many living in hiding, terrified they will face Taliban revenge for working for Britain.
Officials stress those trapped in Afghanistan remain the priority and an expanded ARAP team has increased significantly the number of decisions – it has made with 27,000 applications processed in the first four months of this year.
But campaigners warn that for some who had been waiting to hear if they are allowed to relocate to the UK, it is too late as they have been hunted down by the Taliban.
They include Riaz Ahmadzai, a soldier with Task Force 333, which often operated in conjunction with UK Special Forces and intelligence officers, who was executed last month outside his home by an assassin who shot him three times in the head at close range.
His family said he had waited more than a year to learn whether he would be allowed to join other members of the Task Force in Britain.
The 33 year-old had been one of those, who fought beside UK forces, behind a letter to Mr Johnson pleading not to be left in Afghanistan and warning there would be no hiding place from the Taliban.
Last week another member of 333 who had applied for relocation said he believed he was ‘going to die’ after being seized by two gunmen, beaten and tortured.
The trooper is the second member of the force, who say they have applied to the UK for sanctuary, to be attacked in the past 16-days.
He said he was only saved by the intervention of community elders and the payment of a ransom, equivalent to £4,500.
A CF333 trooper was tortured and left in a very bad condition. he is alive but in a bad condition. Afghans face being ‘picked off by the Taliban’, as they’re forced to wait to relocate to UK, as shock MOD figures show 60,000 cases awaiting decision
It comes after a former interpreter for UK Special Forces, who first applied for ARAP in August 2021 before the Taliban takeover, was taken at gunpoint in Kabul beaten and tortured. He is one of four ex-translators, who risked their lives beside UK troops, to have been questioned and beaten by the Taliban.
The 36 year-old, who worked with the UK for two years and is now in hiding, said he too believed he would die.
‘They searched my phone and found emails applying for relocation in the UK, certificates from the military praising my work and contact numbers for colleagues overseas,’ he said.
‘I thought it was my death sentence for helping the enemy and they bound my hands, hooded me and beat me trying to find intelligence of who else I knew who was in hiding.
‘They gave me electric shocks to my body and neck and I was only saved when my family went to village elders begging for their intervention.’
The ex-translator is one of dozens of former frontline interpreters to have contacted this newspaper’s award-winning Betrayal of the Brave campaign appealing for help and pleading with the government not to ‘abandon’ them.
Two former frontline interpreters who did not qualify for ARAP after being dismissed claim they have been beaten and their homes ransacked.
One needed three weeks of hospital treatment. He is now trying to reach UK with the help of people smugglers.
Nazir with his three children plead not to be left behind
Former interpreter supervisor Rafi Hottak, who was blown-up in Helmand – a British officer died in the blast – and now campaigns for those left in Afghanistan, said: ‘It is a terrifying time for Afghans in hiding and wondering all the time if Britain will give a positive decision before the Taliban finds them.
‘I know of at least four cases where those who worked with UK forces have been murdered by the Taliban at a time when their families said they were waiting for a decision on relocation.‘
Among them was a senior Afghan intelligence officer who was hoping to escape, another was the SF trooper Ahmadzai, who had warned Boris Johnson that he could be killed if Britain delayed making it relocation decisions.’
Mr Hottak added: ‘The Taliban and its spies have total control and it is an incredibly dangerous time for those who worked for the West. People are being taken from the streets beaten, tortured and in some cases executed. One police officer was recently made to kneel while plastic was wrapped round his head so that he suffocated – everyone is grateful for what the UK is doing but the clock is ticking. The reality for those found is stark.’
It was Mr Hottak, now an accountant based in the Midlands, who wrote a passionate letter to Mr Johnson and his senior ministers asking that those who risked their lives beside UK troops to be rescued.
Written two weeks after the end of the Operation Pitting evacuation from Kabul and hours after the Taliban murdered a former sniper, who had operated alongside UK forces, Mr Hottak warned: ‘I am pleading with the UK government to evacuate all those who have loyally served you in Afghanistan. These individuals and their families were the only people who stood shoulder to shoulder with the UK forces and government in Afghanistan. Many of our colleagues died or were injured in the past 20 years of war against terrorism.
‘These individuals and their families accepted the risk and danger and did not leave you alone in that war.
‘But today the entire country is under the control of the very terrorist group they have fought. With the Taliban in power, they will be hunted down, with many killed and tortured.
‘Now it is time for the UK government to do the right thing, to protect and save all those who were our close friends and allies. It is a moral obligation of the UK government to save them and evacuate them.’
Campaigners say the revenge attacks underline the urgent needs for both applications to be processed faster and for those approved to be moved to safe countries and then swiftly on to the UK.
They highlight how 1,300 ARAP-qualified Afghans are currently stuck in Pakistan hotels – some for more than a year – and will not be moved to the UK until housing is found for them. This, they believe, creates a logjam for those escaping Afghanistan.
An average of 1,500 new ARAP applications have been received each month this year for those seeking relocation. Since the end of Operation Pitting in August 2021 where 15,000 were rescued there have been 1,060 cases approved against 26,383 rejections. More than 2,500 are subject to appeals.
A government spokesperson said: ‘The Ministry of Defence has made a commitment to relocate ARAP eligible Afghans who worked for, or with, UK forces In Afghanistan.
‘To date we have relocated over 12,200 individuals to the UK and we estimate that approximately 4,300 individuals and their family members are left to relocate to the UK. We have made a commitment to relocate eligible Afghans and will honour this.’
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