Army’s Afghan interpreters can stay in UK

DOZENS of Afghan interpreters who served alongside British troops will be granted the right to live in the UK, following a review of government policy.

Approximately 50 front-line contractors who served in Helmand province will be granted visas, Gavin Williamson, the Defence Secretary, has said as he praised the volunteers as the campaign’s “unsung heroes”.

They will be allowed to resettle in the UK with their wives and children, taking the total of new visas issued to around 200. The decision follows years of criticism over the Government’s treatment of Army interpreters, whose participation in the Nato effort places them at grave risk of reprisals.

Many have since received death threats, including some who have since been murdered in their own homes.

Mr Williamson said reviewing the existing scheme would honour the interpreters’ “extraordinary service.” Writing in the Daily Mail, he said: “Frontline patrol interpreters were the unsung heroes of the military campaign in Afghanistan. They served our nation with dazzling distinction.”

The announcement follows bitter criticism yesterday from the chief executive of the Afghan government, Abdullah Abdullah, who accused the UK of failing the individuals, whom he said took “even bigger risks than the soldiers”.

“I know they did their job, taking a big risk in very difficult, life-threatening circumstances. Some come from very rural areas and the risk for them today is even greater,” he said, adding that the interpreters acted in the belief they would be given sanctuary in Britain.

More than 7,000 Afghans provided some form of assistance to the British effort in Afghanistan, code-named Operation Herrick, between 2002 and 2014, roughly half of whom were translators. Around 400 former interpreters have been relocated to Britain so far, but many more are struggling to gain visas.