ABANDONED BY BRITAIN ... THEN GUNNED DOWN BY THE TALIBAN
Hitmen target Afghan interpreter and his son, two, after they’re refused entry to UK
AN Afghan interpreter who risked his life on the front line with British troops was shot with his two-year- old son by Taliban hitmen after he says he was ‘abandoned’ by the UK Government.
The 26- year- old, who was known as ‘Chris’ by UK soldiers, was hit in the leg when gunmen opened fire near his home in Khost, eastern Afghanistan.
His son Muhammad also sustained injuries in the attack, which Chris says was the latest in a series of attempts to kill or kidnap him because of his time spent helping the British Government – which now won’t let him come to the UK.
During more than three years with UK forces, Chris worked with elite units including the SAS, Royal Marines and Parachute Regiment.
The father-of-two, who spent two months in hospital after the shooting, said he has taken evidence of threats to UK authorities on ten occasions – but has repeatedly been dismissed and told merely to take more security precautions.
He claims he has also narrowly escaped a kidnap attempt, and now has to hide in a network of hostels. He said: ‘I worked outside military bases with UK forces where I took huge personal risk on a daily basis – I served with distinction, placing myself in mortal danger to save my British colleagues.
‘My family and I have experienced a serious threat to life as a consequence of working for the British, resulting – most recently – in me being shot on December 26 when the Taliban came to my village looking for me.
‘My son was hit too. This only happened because of my work with the British. The Government has totally forgotten its allies who helped them during the worst of times here. I have seen British soldiers die in front me and I have collected soldiers’ remains – now I think I am being abandoned.’
Chris – who worked for British forces between October 2008 and April 2011 – claims that UK commanders are aware that he was forced to stop working for the soldiers because of threats to his family made by the Taliban.
But like the majority of frontline translators who want to build new lives in the UK, Chris does not qualify for an immigration scheme because of his dates of service. The scheme is only available to those with at least a year’s continuous service after December 2011.
So far just one of more than 300 Afghan interpreters who say they have been threatened by the Taliban because of their work with British soldiers has been given a UK visa. Last night, as it emerged that a Taliban thug suspected of murder in Afghanistan has won the right to stay in Britain on human rights grounds, Rafi – who is leading the fight to help other interpreters stay in the UK – said: ‘Human rights? Do only criminals and those who have killed British soldiers and translators have human rights? Doors are opened to them but closed to us.
‘It is disgusting the way we are being treated. We are not even being treated like human beings, my colleagues have to live in the shadows with their families looking over their shoulders constantly in fear of death whereas the Taliban are being allowed to stay with all the benefits from the British taxpayer. It is like we are the terrorists and they are the heroes.’
Rafi, who fears giving his full name, was blown up by the Taliban in a blast that killed a British officer. He is now involved in a court case next month challenging the UK’s position on translators.
A judicial review brought by Rafi and one other Afghan interpreter is to challenge whether the Government complied with its statutory obligations towards hundreds of translators – and the attack on Chris and his son earlier this year will be highlighted.
Lawyers will point out that the shooting is just one of scores of occasions when interpreters have been targeted. 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. They claim the threat of violent reprisals from the Taliban has grown since British forces withdrew from Afghanistan and that many are in hiding unable to work and having to move regularly to escape assassination units.
Two years ago The Mail interviewed 31 former translators in the Afghan capital Kabul who claimed to be in fear of their lives. Out of ten contacted last week, six said they had survived direct threats in recent months. One said : ‘Many families have been attacked, some relatives killed, others tortured and people loyal to the British military are living in hiding.’
UK officials deny that their translators have been ‘abandoned’, and stress that each case is individually examined and assessed by British officials in Afghanistan. Asked about Chris’s claims, the Ministry of Defence said it could not discuss individual cases.
Comment – Page 14
‘We have to live in the shadows’