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14/08/2013
Government Urged To Act On Afghan Interpreters
Downing Street is being lobbied by a campaign headed by Winston Churchill's great grandson to protect Afghan interpreters who served in Helmand with British soldiers.
Alexander Perkins has delivered a petition with over 55,000 signatures to Downing Street, and has said the UK owes the interpreters a "huge debt".
He said they would be "sent to their deaths" if they were not offered asylum.
The move follows a government proposal earlier this year to relocate interpreters who served on the front line with British troops for over a year and provide them with a five-year visa to the UK.
But Mr Perkins argued that only those who began work on or after January 1 this year would be eligible.
"The reality is that at the end of the tour, when we go home they're left in Afghanistan and their homes are potential warzones," said Mr Perkins, who himself served two tours of duty in Afghanistan as a captain in the Scots Guards.
"And if local insurgants or local informants have put two and two together and worked out that these guys are interpreters and facilitating Isaf (International Security Assistance Force), whether it be the Brits or the Americans, their lives and the lives of their families are at risk.
"We're pulling out in 2014 and we're going to leave these guys behind."
Mr Perkins said there was "a fair chance that a large number of these guys are going to be persecuted by the Taliban, and some of them probably will end up being killed."
The petition began on change.org, explaining: "We want the Government to review policies surrounding Afghan interpreters and change it so it is more encompassing and those who served alongside us in Afghanistan are granted asylum here in the UK.
"Other nations in Isaf, the New Zealanders and the Americans, actually grant their interpreters asylum and nationalise them."
(IT/CD)
Alexander Perkins has delivered a petition with over 55,000 signatures to Downing Street, and has said the UK owes the interpreters a "huge debt".
He said they would be "sent to their deaths" if they were not offered asylum.
The move follows a government proposal earlier this year to relocate interpreters who served on the front line with British troops for over a year and provide them with a five-year visa to the UK.
But Mr Perkins argued that only those who began work on or after January 1 this year would be eligible.
"The reality is that at the end of the tour, when we go home they're left in Afghanistan and their homes are potential warzones," said Mr Perkins, who himself served two tours of duty in Afghanistan as a captain in the Scots Guards.
"And if local insurgants or local informants have put two and two together and worked out that these guys are interpreters and facilitating Isaf (International Security Assistance Force), whether it be the Brits or the Americans, their lives and the lives of their families are at risk.
"We're pulling out in 2014 and we're going to leave these guys behind."
Mr Perkins said there was "a fair chance that a large number of these guys are going to be persecuted by the Taliban, and some of them probably will end up being killed."
The petition began on change.org, explaining: "We want the Government to review policies surrounding Afghan interpreters and change it so it is more encompassing and those who served alongside us in Afghanistan are granted asylum here in the UK.
"Other nations in Isaf, the New Zealanders and the Americans, actually grant their interpreters asylum and nationalise them."
(IT/CD)
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Interpreters who worked with British forces in Afghanistan will be granted a visa allowing them to relocate to Britain.
Afghan Interpreters To Be Granted UK Visa's
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The Foreign Secretary has called the murder of a British aid worker in Afghanistan 'deplorable'. Dr Karen Woo was among a group of health workers murdered in Afghanistan. William Hague said: "We can confirm the murder of a British female doctor in Northern Afghanistan. "She was killed with a number of other health aid workers," he said.
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Commander calls for more Nato troops for Afghanistan
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