Senior Conservatives have urged Rishi Sunak to keep his word on helping Afghan war heroes, backing The Independent’s campaign to stop the threatened deportation of a pilot who fought against the Taliban.
Former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith called for greater “flexibility” for Afghan veterans to be settled in the UK, joining other top Tories in pushing the government to uphold its “moral obligation” to support those who fought alongside British forces.
Sir Iain said the Afghan pilot – threatened with deportation to Rwanda because he arrived via a small boat across the English Channel – should be eligible for the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (Arap) refugee scheme.
“With all schemes, there needs to be flexibility,” said the former cabinet mister. “It’s smart always to be flexible on these things. We have established [a] safe route with the [Arap] Afghan scheme, so it shouldn’t take too much to move him across to the scheme.”
Mr Duncan Smith added: “If there is evidence he is what he claims to be, then I assume the government can look at it under the existing safe routes, and act accordingly.”
The Afghan pilot – who flew dozens of missions against the Taliban and was praised by his American coalition forces supervisor as a “patriot to his nation” – claims he has been “forgotten” despite working alongside British and US forces.
Sir Iain’s comments come as MPs criticised the Arap scheme criteria – which states that applicants must have worked directly for the UK government – as being too narrow.
Data shows the scheme has rejected 18,946 Afghans, while just 3,399 have been found eligible. The Global Witness campaign group said hundreds of Afghans who worked alongside British forces have been left behind and “massively exposed”.
Conservative MP Julian Lewis, former chair of the defence select committee, told The Independent: “I accept that our primary moral obligation is to those Afghans who worked directly for and with British armed forces during the campaign, as interpreters and other locally employed civilians.”
Mr Lewis, who served in the Royal Naval Reserve, added: “Nevertheless, special consideration should also be given to genuine former military personnel who were our allies in the fight against Islamist extremists.”
Tory MP Flick Drummond said the case of the Afghan pilot was “exactly why I supported the amendments to the Illegal Migration Bill” – arguing that the crackdown on small boat arrivals should not prevent asylum being given to those who helped British forces.
Ms Drummond – who served in the British Army Intelligence Corps – said: “We need to look at every case on its merits and provide sanctuary to those that need our help.”
Senior Tory MPs Tobias Ellwood and David Davis have previously backed The Independent’s campaign for Afghan war heroes to be given refuge. Mr Ellwood, the defence select committee chair said there was “no functioning process that allows Afghans to apply for asylum from abroad”.
Labour MP Clive Lewis said the threatened deportation of the pilot was “overwhelmingly wrong because it’s someone who has risked their life alongside British forces, and then gets thrown to the wolves”, adding: “This man clearly merits being here.”
But Mr Lewis, who served in the Territorial Army, warned that the case was only “the tip of the iceberg” rather than exceptional – arguing that the government’s plan to block asylum claims from all small boat arrivals could shut out many more Afghans.
“The very narrow parameters of the Afghan resettlement scheme highlights that the government’s rhetoric doesn’t match up with reality,” he said. “There are thousands of others fleeing persecution who still deserve to be given refuge in this country.”
Mr Sunak said he would “make sure the Home Office has a look” at the case of the Afghan pilot.
But No 10 refused to comment on the case, or say whether Mr Sunak would respond to the letter the Afghan air force fighter wrote asking for help.
The Home Office has also refused to say whether it would consider removing the deportation threat while it considers his asylum claim – and continues to insist it cannot comment on the plight of an individual.
