RAF on secret mission to bring Afghan translators to Britain
THE Royal Air Force has begun a secret mission to rescue Afghan translators who have escaped over the border of the Taliban-run country.
The Ministry of Defence is sending long-range, heavy-lift strategic aircraft to neighbouring countries to collect Afghans who previously served with British soldiers during 20 years of UK operations there, it is understood.
The Daily Telegraph has agreed not to name the locations at which UK military aircraft could land owing to security concerns.
Hundreds of Afghans may be collected and resettled in the UK under the mission, which is understood to have commenced this week. The British military is also open to picking up stranded foreign nationals of allied states.
The blueprint was drawn up after the emergency airlift out of Kabul ended in August, leaving more than 300 Afghan interpreters eligible to come to Britain stuck in Afghanistan. The Government pledged to bolster the presence of consular staff in embassies in neighbouring countries to help process those able to escape Afghanistan over land borders after the initial evacuation ended.
However, concerns had arisen in Whitehall that many fleeing Afghans who crossed the border would not easily be able to travel the distance to any neighbouring state’s capital city to reach a British embassy.
The RAF operation is expected to help people gathering near the border, rather than in capital cities, of neighbouring states. A formal announcement about the covert mission is expected within days, with the rescue operations set to last as long as several weeks, according to sources.
It is understood that C-17 Globemasters, long-range strategic transport aircraft, and A400M Atlases, four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft, are likely to be involved with the efforts.
Both aircraft are versatile and able to land and take off on a wider array of terrain than conventional airstrips.
The situation was said to be fluid and the planning for the evacuation operation flexible.
It is thought that some Afghans picked up by RAF jets could be taken to hubs outside the region to be processed, while others may be flown straight to the UK.
A government source said: “More RAF aircraft are going in to pick people up from ‘friendly’ nations.
“We’ll be picking up a variety of foreign nationals, Arap [translators eligible for resettlement under the Government’s Afghan Relocations and Assistance
Policy], anyone left behind.”
A Whitehall source highlighted that the Government had made commitments to “get as many people out as possible”.
The Ministry of Defence declined to comment on the operation, but a spokesman said: “During Operation Pitting, we worked tirelessly to safely evacuate as many people out of Afghanistan as possible, airlifting more than 15,000 people from Kabul including thousands of Arap applicants and their dependants.”