The UK government has announced that some Afghan special forces soldiers who fought alongside British troops will now be allowed to relocate to the UK. The decision has been made after the previous government rejected around 2,000 applications from soldiers who served in specialist units known as the “Triples” following the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in 2021. Armed forces minister Luke Pollard has stated that the review of these applications has found that some were wrongly turned down, and around 25% of the rejections have now been overturned.
The “Triples” were elite units funded and run by the UK, and they worked closely with the SAS in Afghanistan. Some soldiers have already been targeted and killed by the Taliban, and many remain at risk under Taliban rule. The defence minister has said that the UK government has reviewed many of the cases as a matter of urgency because of this ongoing risk. The review of the rejected applications was announced by the previous Conservative government in February after former armed forces minister James Heappey said the decision-making process behind some rejections was not robust.
Pollard has said that the errors in the initial decision-making process were caused by poor record-keeping and a failure to access and share the right digital records, rather than malicious intent. He has criticised the previous government for a critical failure in locating the correct paperwork. The defence minister has also pointed out that this still does not mean that all Triples will be eligible for relocation, and that officials are still re-assessing some of the applications.
Shadow veterans minister Andrew Bowie has welcomed the continuation of the review, stating that the Conservatives want the correct decisions made on the highly sensitive applications as speedily and fairly as possible. Overall, it appears that the UK government is now making efforts to rectify the previous rejection of applications from Afghan special forces soldiers, and to ensure that these soldiers can relocate to the UK for their own safety
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