Afghans ‘won’t help UK’ without protections under Rwanda plan

AFGHANS will not help the UK if they are not protected under the Rwanda Bill, a senior military figure has warned.

The Rwanda Bill, which will send some asylum seekers from the UK to the central African country to have their claims processed, has been criticised for potentially deporting Afghans who “were prepared to die to” help British forces during overseas tours.

In a letter to The Telegraph, retired Brigadier John Donnelly, writes: “Our operational effectiveness on overseas operations depends upon our ability to recruit and trust local people.

“If they do not believe that we will support them, if their safety in their country of birth is compromised, then why would they volunteer to help us?” In his letter he adds that as Lord Stirrup, a former Chief of the Defence Staff, said during the debates on the Bill, the support of Afghans “is crucial to the success and safety of our own Armed Forces”.

Brig Donnelly, who served in the British Army from 1982 to 2016, said in every operation he served on from the Balkans to Afghanistan and Iraq, the British military “relied heavily” on local interpreters and guides to “fulfil the mission”.

“Many of those people were prepared to die to help us, or risk their security after we had withdrawn,” he said.

Brig Donnelly said he supported an amendment proposed by Lord Browne of Ladyton, a former defence secretary, that would exempt those that had worked with British Forces overseas from removal to Rwanda. The Bill, which will return to the Commons on April 15, will be considered by the Government after Easter. Yesterday the Archbishop of Canterbury signalled that the Church will not block the Rwanda Bill if MPs rejected the Lords amendments next month.

It comes as the Government said a military camp in Wales will be used to house Afghans who have fled the Taliban as part of the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy. The scheme supports Afghans and their families who worked for, or with, the UK government and Armed Forces in Afghanistan.

East Camp, an MoD housing estate in St Athan in the Vale of Glamorgan, is housing 50 people, with more joining them in mid-April.