LONDON: Ministers have warned the government that Afghan refugees eligible for a scheme providing resettlement in the UK could “die before it becomes operational.”
The warning came following news that at least two men associated with British forces had been murdered by the Taliban in recent days.
Britain pledged to relocate up to 20,000 people from Afghanistan after the Taliban took over in August this year, but the scheme has not started and is still being designed.
The resettlements were planned to protect Afghan civilians, such as interpreters, who had worked closely with British and NATO forces during the war and whose lives may now be in danger because of that.
Labour MP Helen Hayes said that one of her constituents has a brother waiting in hiding in Afghanistan alongside his wife and children.
“Since the evacuation ended, they have lost an uncle and a cousin, both murdered by the Taliban, and they have received numerous threatening messages,” said Hayes.
“They live in daily fear for their lives, yet the government will not issue papers to give them the best chance of safe passage to the UK via a third country.”
Victoria Atkins, the minister responsible for Afghan resettlement, told parliament: “We are working urgently across government and with partners such as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to design the scheme.”
She said the lack of a British embassy in Kabul was complicating evacuations but added: “We continue to support the thousands of people successfully evacuated from Afghanistan under Operation Pitting, and we will continue to support those who come under the scheme when it opens.”
She insisted the UK was “meeting its commitment” for translators and other Afghans who were made Taliban targets by their work with the British military.
But others warned that when the scheme is finally operational it could be too late for the very people it is intended to help.
“There is a real risk that the people whom the scheme is intended to help will die before it becomes operational,” Labour MP Bambos Charalambous said.
Louise Calvey, the head of services at charity Refugee Action, told The Independent: “It’s indefensible that ministers are still dawdling over the details of its Afghan resettlement scheme, three months after the fall of Kabul.
“These delays have been caused in part by the government’s previous refusal to commit to a long-term resettlement program, which left it totally unprepared when it was needed. But this is no excuse to not help now.
She added: “Ministers must urgently use the already operational UK resettlement scheme to identify and relocate vulnerable Afghan refugees so they can start to rebuild their lives here in safety.”
