RASC News Agency: A group of Afghanistani citizens who previously served alongside British military forces in Afghanistan have issued a desperate appeal, condemning what they describe as a “shameful silence” and prolonged neglect by the British government. In a letter circulated to international media, the former interpreters, technicians, and logistical aides expressed grave concern over the fate of their resettlement applications many of which have remained unanswered for over three years. These individuals, once considered vital assets to British military operations during the NATO-led intervention in Afghanistan, now find themselves stranded under the rule of the very regime they helped to resist. Since the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021, former coalition collaborators have been relentlessly hunted, harassed, and in many cases executed in secret. Their cooperation with foreign forces has rendered them prime targets under a regime that continues to exact vengeance in violation of every human rights norm.
The letter, dated Monday, May 26, called for an immediate, transparent, and fair review of all outstanding cases. “This prolonged uncertainty is not merely an administrative oversight it is a moral failure of historic proportions,” the letter states. The authors denounced the UK’s inaction as a betrayal of its own stated values, and a clear violation of the trust once placed in it by those who risked their lives to further its mission. “We stood with the British forces on the front lines, not just as contractors, but as partners in a shared fight against extremism and oppression,” the letter continues. “Today, that same extremism rules unchecked, and the partner who once called us allies has turned away.”
The consequences of this neglect are not abstract. Many of these former workers live in hiding under Taliban rule, constantly relocating in fear of raids, interrogations, and execution. Some have received death threats; others have seen relatives detained or disappeared. Their names, once protected in military files, are now known to local Taliban commanders, many of whom regard them as traitors deserving of death. Exacerbating their situation is a bombshell revelation from the UK Ministry of Defence. In newly released documents submitted to a British court, it has been revealed that a single officer from the UK’s Special Forces command rejected over 1,580 applications for resettlement between mid-2023 and early 2024 applications that included substantial evidence of service and collaboration.
Although the Ministry has vaguely attributed this official’s actions to “internal procedural concerns,” legal observers suggest the mass rejections may be linked to an ongoing war crimes investigation into alleged abuses by British Special Forces in Afghanistan. These Afghanistani applicants many of whom witnessed battlefield conduct could serve as vital witnesses. Their indefinite legal limbo, some suggest, may be a deliberate act to neutralize their ability to testify. Human rights organizations have strongly condemned this state of affairs. “These are not economic migrants,” said a spokesperson for the International Refugee Accountability Forum. “They are witnesses. They are victims. And they are being sacrificed on the altar of political convenience.”
Veterans of the British military have also expressed outrage. “These men saved British lives,” said one retired officer. “They deserve protection not paperwork.” Meanwhile, the Taliban’s reign of fear continues to intensify. The regime unaccountable and emboldened by international silence continues its systematic persecution of journalists, women, former civil servants, and anyone suspected of ties to the previous republic or foreign governments. In this climate, the abandonment of pro-democracy Afghanistani collaborators is not just negligent it is fatal. The letter concludes with a grim ultimatum: if no progress is made, the applicants will pursue their rights through international courts and advocacy bodies. But for now, they remain trapped between a regime that seeks to kill them and a government that once called them allies, now content to forget them.
