Blood and bullet holes – proof they ARE in danger
THE government claim there is little evidence of ‘Taliban intimidation’ against the translators but the Daily Mail has been told of a shocking wave of attacks.
Men who worked alongside British forces say they have suffered threats, ambushes, beatings, shootings and many have been told they are on Taliban hit lists.
They have told how relatives have been killed, how members of their families have been tortured in a bid to try to find the translators and of threats to their children from militant kidnappers who would then demand an exchange – the interpreter for the youngster’s life.
Some also complain that their pictures from the frontline helping British soldiers or politicians can still be seen on Facebook and YouTube – one 26-year-old said he was shown monitoring insurgent radio messages and telling troops their position on a documentary seen over 250,000 times.
Shaffy, 26, one of the British army’s top Afghan interpreters, told the British he was targeted by the Taliban after being shown on Afghan and British TV working for David Cameron.
He said: ‘The Taliban told me I stood with Mr Cameron helping the British as they killed their mujahideen and that I would die because of it.’
His image beside the Prime Minister is still available via Google, he said, complaining he has been ‘repeatedly threatened’ because of his vital work.
Translators say British officials are ‘sympathetic and listen’ to their cases but say their hands are tied because they cannot prove the intimidation and attacks. This is despite one man called Niz, 26, an ex-Army and Foreign Office translator, who provided evidence including photographs of a bullet-riddled, blood-stained car after a Taliban ambush near his home in Kunar province.
Two innocent mechanics were killed and a third villager injured in the March attack on a vehicle similar to the one owned by Niz.
It was the third time he or his family had been attacked by Taliban gunmen, he claimed. Niz also claims he has been given written evidence by the Afghan police that he is on a Taliban hit-list and his family have been attacked on three occasions by gunmen hunting Niz, but British officials told him they do not accept he is under threat, he says, and steadfastly refused his appeals to be allowed to come to the UK.
A law and politics student, he said: ‘It is an obvious truth that I feel scared and have been abandoned to the mercy of Taliban by the UK government.’
His views are echoed by the former SAS translator known as Chris, who worked for former Prime Minister Gordon Brown in war-ravaged Helmand province.
The 26-year- old father- of-two claims he has survived three attacks this year. Just two weeks ago, his pregnant wife was beaten so badly – she was punched with a knuckle-duster – that she lost her baby. Her brother was also brutally beaten as gunmen tried to discover where Chris was.
‘It is disgusting that despite this overwhelming evidence the British still do not accept that I have to leave Afghanistan – they accept I am in danger but that it is not enough to warrant me being moved,’ he said.
‘It will be too late when I am dead. My innocent family is suffering the consequences of my time of loyal service to the British.’
At least 20 interpreters serving with British troops were killed in action and dozens wounded while serving with UK forces.
Six were murdered by the Taliban while on leave and five are said to have been hunted down since UK forces left.
‘It will be too late when I am dead’