Letters: Afghan interpreters deserve better from Britain

Welcome changes

Sir: Lloyd Evans’s sympathetic piece on the fate of Afghans once they arrive in the UK made for sobering reading (‘New arrivals’, 18 December). In the Sulha Alliance we are endeavouring to support those Afghans and their families who served with and alongside British forces in Afghanistan. That is not the totality of Afghan migrants, but of the former interpreters and their families it can be truly said ‘they are here because we were there’ — and we owe them.

I will not go over the whole sorry saga of the UK’s mistreatment of this group, but we really need a step change in how they are looked after. As Mr Evans’s article makes plain, the Home Office default setting for supporting all migrants is ‘survival’: sufficient unto the day and not a penny more. For the former interpreters and their families, we demand a different standard: that they be given the means to thrive, not simply survive.

This does not necessarily mean significantly more spending. In many cases, it just needs the government to fulfil its own promises: to grant them Indefinite Leave to Remain, enabling them to access loans, long-term employment and tertiary education; and to establish the 300+ university scholarships promised in August. Many of the Afghans who served with us were among the brightest and best of that country, and I’m sure that our investment in them will pay a handsome dividend.

These aren’t new demands. These promises were made throughout last year but they haven’t been fulfilled. The government calls its plan Operation Warm Welcome; for rather too many this is proving ironic at best.

Simon Diggins OBE, Colonel (Retd)

DA Kabul, 2008-10